Stella, R.I.P.

Our first car as a married couple bit the dust this past week. I am glad that she got one last hurrah (see "Becoming one with the Earth") before her demise.

Kyle and I were driving when (on the exit ramp) we started hearing this really weird rattling. Huh, we both thought, I wonder what that is. Neither of us thought, oh this might be important or maybe we should pull over...no none of those thoughts crossed our minds. Because Stella was stalwart, was being the key word, and we...we were stupid really.

The rattling turned out to be a couple head gaskets making their final stand before they blew. Thus the death of our good friend Stella. Although the drama that ensued afterwards seems crazier than the smoke that came billowing out of her hood.

We decided to let her cool down over night and then return the next morning, bright and early, to see if she'd start (this was before we knew what had really happened to her). So we walk the 20 or so blocks back to our apartment and Kyle goes down on his bike the next morning at 5 AM. Stella has always had issues with her alarm system. It seems to go off at the most untimely moments. I'm sure someone could break in without it sounding, but it would scream wildly when Kyle used his set of keys to open the door for me. Stella only liked the remote - if you tried to use a key on her she'd almost always go off.

You guessed it, Kyle used his set of keys that morning and I got a call around 5:30 Kyle's irritated voice explaining the blaring horn in the background. I think I remember laughing...bad idea. This was not a funny moment, that was evident when Kyle said quite plainly at the end of the conversation, "I hate your car Melese."

Instead of riding his bike all the way back I suggested he run over to my sister's house that was quite close and see if he could borrow their car. Luckily my sister works at a kitchen that requires her to be there at 5 AM, so my brother-in-law was still semi-awake. He gave Kyle the keys and I assume then went back to sleep. Now my husband is no criminal, he would never intentionally break into a stranger's car and jam the wrong key into it's ignition so long and with such determination that it would actually pop off the ignition cap, only that's exactly what happened. Wrong car... awkward. Although if you ask me, it's their own fault for not locking the door in the first place. =)

As crazy as everything was, it all turned out good. We sold Stella for as much as we could and got a new car two days later just before we all took off up to Idaho for a family reunion. Hopefully this one will last us a whole lot longer, no more of this car break-down stuff, it's getting old. =)