Meet Kaori, another beloved blue Honda!

Well, the time finally came for me to retire my 1994 4-door Honda Civic DX. I know it seems silly to get all sentimental over a car, but it represents a very monumental segment of my life: 1997 through 2005.

During that time period, this little beloved car, fondly named "LBC" (Little Blue Car), saw me through the following milestones (not necessarily in chronological order):

• winning the Canton Symphony Orchestra Principal Horn job
• going to Carnegie Hall to perform the Britten War Requiem with the Cincinnati Symphony exactly one month after 9/11
• performing for the first time with the Cleveland Orchestra, a huge lifelong dream
• my re-entry into the world of dating men after, shall we say, a 10 year "hiatus" from them :D (those of you who know me better will know exactly what this really means)
• meeting my fabulous David and becoming engaged and then married over one of the most blissful weekends of my life (largely because the entire weekend was shared with family and friends like you!)
• winning my first full time orchestra job and moving to Milwaukee after having lived in Cleveland for 10 years
• buying and moving into my first ever home

So you can see why I would be attached to it, if only for its symbolism of an era. 8 years! Wow.

I took pictures for sentimental remembrance value. :) I think I will miss my bumper stickers the most, especially my Buddha fish (don't you love how it's fat, like the Buddha?). ;)




Look at how cute it is, even in its old age!

You can see how "well loved" this car got. The scrape marks were from the garage at our previous Milwaukee home on Cumberland, which had a strangely shaped driveway that made it difficult to get straight entry into the space.

The rust spots are not nearly as unattractive as the duct tape the idiots at Jimbo's Car Wash on Capitol made me put on them so that I could go through their facility without damage liability. I never went there again. I mean, just look at this! The duct tape removed more paint than the rust ever would have. And don't you just love the white waffle adhesive look? Grrr. Poor little car.

But, the days of duct tape, 6 figure odometers, rust, rolling down the driver's side window to get out of the car are finally over. This past Friday night, I drove home my brand new 2006 Honda CRV 2WD LX! When we first got into it at the dealership, it had 5 miles on the odometer. FIVE. I gawked incredulously, as a single-digit odometer is something I haven't ever considered possible, let alone seen before.

{drum roll, please....} Meet Kaori, my new CRV!! Kaori is a Japanese name meaning strong. Given the uber-reliability and longevity of Hondas and Japanese cars in general, I figured this was a perfect name for a new Japanese car!

I think it will be a while before I put any bumper stickers on Kaori! She's just too pristine and perfect right now. (I really, really miss my Buddha fish, though.)

I have to tell you it's been quite an adjustment, driving Kaori. She's significantly bigger than anything I've ever driven before, and I'm much higher up off the ground.

What's interesting is that I can see SO much more now! It's like I went from being a crawling baby to the vantage point of an ambulatory person. When trucks go by, I notice them immediately. I can see SO much more going on arond me. My awareness is definitely heightened!

Isn't Kaori pretty? :) She's bigger, but she still qualifies as cute, I think!

A jeep drove past me on our way home from the dealership, and I exclaimed joyfully, "I'm as tall as you now!!"

Being able to see so much better now makes me wonder what the hell I've been missing all these years belly-crawling around on the roads in my Civic! My awareness is definitely and acutely heightened!

Everyone I've talked to says that SUV drivers have an inflated sense of invincibility, but I am driving with extreme caution! I'm very cognisant of having a higher center of gravity and I brake much more slowly and gradually now.

I just adore this car. She's going to be a perfect family vehicle for us eventually, and I can't tell you what a joy it is to drive it. I'm finding myself coming up with reasons to leave the house just so I can drive it!

Oh, by the way, David and I sold LBC to this guy who auctions cars on the side. We learned of him, and the car auctioning possibilities, from one of my symphony colleagues. We got $300 cash for it, which is a heck of a lot more than we would have ever gotten on a trade-in or a tax deduction.