Click here for episode I.

Tomorrow while I’m at work, some intrepid folks from Volunteers of America are coming to pick up my car and take it away.

It would be an understatement to say that I am feeling sentimental about this. However, I am also a pretty practical person when it comes right down to it and there simply wasn’t much else I could do.

Sure, I entertained the idea of holding on to her in the vague hope that at some point I’d be able to afford the repairs–then I’d have two cars!

What the hell do I need with two cars?

I thought about selling her. A cracked head gasket and a busted odometer quickly convinced me of the flaw in that plan. Not to mention the inevitable feeling of responsibility should anything go wrong or the buyer be unhappy with his or her purchase. No thank you.

In the end, donating her just feels right. Not just in the fact that it’s so damn easy, but in the simple, and admittedly unprovable sense that the car may make a positive impact on someone else’s life.

Jeanette the Saturn–from her acquisition to her subsequent disposition she bookmarks what I am lately starting to think of as the first chapter of my post-college life. She helped me escape Ohio and her parting shot for my family was bringing me back.

I will miss this damned car. But Lucy the Ford and I have places to go and people to see. And while her origins dictate that she and I also have somewhat of a shared history, we are on a new road heading into the future–still firmly anchored.

Editor’s Note: The tow truck driver actually came at 7:30 while I was drinking my coffee on the back porch. What a strange thing to witness. “Bye Bye Beautiful, don’t bother to write.”