Yes, you read that title correctly. My Home Depot mobile is dead. Let me explain. My perfect, wonderful, well-loved car is gone. A true legend is no more.
We’d load him up with even the messiest home center materials. He loved every minute. 12-foot pieces of wood that hung out quite perilously out the back? No challenge for my car.
A cubic yard of mulch. Countless plants and bushes teeming with wet soil. Christmas trees. All of these things and more have been transported back home via my darling Volkswagen Jetta.
You might think “darling” is the wrong adjective to describe a car. Hardly. He loved to be pampered. This headlight massage was one of his favorite luxuries.
Spike, as he was known, was a lover. He brought man and dog together on more than one occasion.
Of course, Griffin was one of Spike’s biggest fans.
Heck, even cats loved Spike. And I am so not a cat person. Spike didn’t judge. He allowed cats to bask in his welcoming glow.
Here he is playing in what would be his last snow storm. I had no idea it’d be his last.
Here he is enjoying his very last detailing. Unlike his last snow storm, I knew that this would be his last detailing appointment. That s*** is expensive!
He was a solid, dependable, peppy car that owed me nothing.
At his demise, he boasted nearly 150,000 miles (in 8 years). He’d been everywhere from Maine to D.C. and points West. He rode with me as I drove to and from my boyfriend’s house. He actually told me that the boyfriend I was visiting was “the one.” He was there as I graduated college, accepted my first job offer, and tied the knot, (with that boyfriend I was visiting). Spike was also super supportive and pumped when we bought our house.
Of course, this post was meant to be silly and a bit off the wall. Like me. Like Spike. We were really quite the pair, he and I. But there’s a serious message in this post, and I’m getting to it.
In reality, the story of how Spike left this world sucks. I wasn’t ready to let go of my darling Spikalicious. He had so much life left in him.
He and I were hit by an 18-year old texter and Spike was totaled. Yes, I was in the car. Yes, I am absolutely, 100% unharmed (no getting out of painting duties this time around!) It could have all been avoided if his eyes were on the road. Where they belong.
I wasn’t harmed this time around, but many people aren’t so fortunate. Everyone has heard about the perils of texting and driving and you’ve probably even heard about the uptick in deaths related to this mindless act of selfishness and stupidity. If you haven’t heard, it’s time you did.
In 2011, at least 23% of all auto collisions involved cell phones. That’s 1.3 million crashes. You are 23 times more likely to crash while texting and driving. 5 seconds is the minimal amount of time your attention is taken away from the road while you’re texting and driving. If you’re traveling 55 mph, that’s like driving the entire length of a football field without looking at the road. Stats found here. THAT. IS. INSANE.
This number is only going to go up, because people are becoming increasingly dependent and dare I say, addicted to their personal devices. If you need to make or take a phone call while driving, PLEASE, buy a Bluetooth headset or a wired headset and make phone calls using that. Your phone needs to stay out of your hand. Period.
I was really lucky in this isolated case, but so many cars like Spike, and more importantly, the precious cargo riding in cars like Spike have not been as lucky. Can you imagine hurting or killing a person because you were on your phone?! It seems preposterous to think about it that way, but it could happen in a second when your eyes are on your phone. Don’t text and drive. It can wait.
(Source)
If you’re looking to take action like me, take a pledge against texting and driving. They’re all over the internet, but I signed the one found here.