"as purty as a lady bird."

Meet Lady Bird. She was born in 2002 but adopted from a dealership in the shady part of San Bernardino when I turned sixteen in 2006. She came home in January and waited patiently in the driveway until I got my license on my birthday, February 12, 2006. She's named after President Lyndon B. Johnson's wife during a time in which I was really into presidents and their wives. The first place we went together was Barnes and Noble, the first people we drove illegally were A and some other newspaper kids to go orange picking, and our first long-distance drive was to Disneyland. Since then our adventures have included many a late-night drive to get food, multiple beach and Northern California trips, random "let's just drive for the hell of it" drives and so many memories in between. In the summer of 2007 Best Friend dubbed her 'red hot bubble car,' not because she was sexy or anything but because her air conditioning stopped working and from then it was always hit or miss. She helped me ditch high school on multiple occasions, once carried bundles of newspapers and was once filled entirely with balloons for Mrs. Bradberry's class on a rainy day. Lady's received two speeding tickets and probably a dozen parking tickets. She's lived in Redlands, Santa Cruz, Riverside and Berkeley. She's stalled in front of the Watchers' house (so scary) and in the snow at Forest Falls. Her check engine light is eternally on but that's just her way of saying hi. She's been abandoned at a couple parks and at Panera. She's met many many boys, good and bad, and kept me safe during teary drives home when I shouldn't have been driving at all. She looks best after a good washing, loves the cheap gas at ARCO and can often be found with a crusty french fry or two left over from me and hungry friends. She hit a dog one July 4th and recently ran over a bunny. She loves the UCSC sticker she's worn forever and the Sports Chalet 'I'd rather be paddling' plate frames dad and I put on ages ago. For the longest time she carried tampons, condoms and red finger paint in her trunk for late-night pranks (real mature). She loves friends and blasting Miley/Ali Lohan/International Dance Mix/The Strokes/Top 40 radio and listening to us sing badly at the top of our lungs. She's carried up to seven people at one time but is mostly used to two, specifically me and Best Friend, and she doesn't mind his cigarette smoking.

and I don't think lady will be coming home this time and it makes me really sad. Lady Bird and I grew up together and she's helped me have so much fun over the past four years. Cars really do have personalities and their own little quirks and it's hard not to be attached. Though you were a pain in the ass a lot of the time Ms. Lady Bird, I loved you so much. Best Friend said it best, "We had some good times in that car."

*photos courtesy of I's fbook. unfortunately early photos of Lady were lost when my laptop crashed.