A couple of hours after the sun went down I pulled that rag top down on the Miata and took her out for a spin. A drive down memory lane. As I was walking out the door, Jo said "One last time...?". If all goes as planned, on Monday or Tuesday, the car will belong to Greta.
When I bought the Miata I was still a few months away from defending my thesis. I didn't own a home or have a full-time job. The first night after I bought the car I woke up in the middle of the night and walked out on to the front porch to see if the car was still there. Moto offered me a job the day after I defended. I asked for a month off and went on a road trip. We didn't have a plan and ended up in Boston. I can still picture driving parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way there.
The car came with a nice picture postcard (a media shot of the Miata). I sent it to my mother with a message scrawled on the back "Mama - my new car!". At that time Alu was in Windsor and had sent my parents a picture of him looking like a scientist that had been published in the local paper. My mother had that picture on her dresser and she was proud of it. Months later when I went to Hyderabad I notice that the postcard had ended up next to Alu's picture. It stayed there for many years.
Tonight I went back and drove some of my favorite roads around Austin. Mt Bonnell, Spicewood Springs, 2222, Bee Caves, 620, 360. Some things are still the same - there still a Jack Browns at the corner of 2244 and 71 though there are malls and shopping centers all around it now. And so much has changed. My liquor store on the way to the marina - back when I used to consider a week without sailing was a week wasted - is now a church. I have to smile. Two things that bring illusions of happiness followed by much misery: alcohol and religion...:-)
So much has happened in the 20 years since. There are at least four friends who rode in that car with me who are now some place where they don't need cars any more. One of them is Mary. I met Mary though her son, Dorky Steve who in turn knew Rajeeta from Kenya when he was in the Peace Corps. Steve was a bit like Rainman but he was a model son and took great care of Mary. Then one day he ran away with a stripper and no one has heard from him since. Mary was over 90 years old and wore compression stockings and moved uncertainly with a walker. It took her 5 minutes to get into the Miata and 10 to extract herself with help from two of us. She was the last person I knew who said "whoopsy" till Vivian said it for a while. We put the top down and screamed up 2222 towards 620. We stopped at Mansfield Dam (back when you had to drive on the dam) to take in the view. She was laughing so hard she had tears running down her cheeks. She said "Arun - can you drive faster?"
For a while my commute was Mt Bonnell Road to 2222 to Loop 360. On the way back, I'd take 2222 to Balcones Drive for a change. Sometimes I'd drive Spicewood Springs Road at lunch just for fun. I never turned on the radio on the Miata because the motor sounded so sweet. One day it was raining very hard when I left work. On one of those turns on 2222 I skidded and did a full 360. At about 180 I recall the expression on Sharon's face when we briefly looked at each other - she was in the car directly behind me. From that day, I drove the Miata like a old lady when it rained.
For all that, it isn't hard to say goodbye to the Miata. Vivian calls it "Daddy's red car". But some things live on better as memories. My dearest wife summed it up best (as she often does) - "its the end of an era".
