Anyone who knew anything about my family and me prior to February 12, 2017 knows about our Acura Legend, whom I named Andrew 'Andy' Legend.
Andy is a 1991 Acura Legend. He's rosewood colored - not beige, not silver, not gray - rosewood. My parents purchased him in October of 1991 and he is practically my little brother.
Over the course of Andy's lifetime, nearly everything broke. The list of things that didn't break is shorter, so I shall list them:
- Engine
- Transmission
See how short that was?
To give you an idea of what I mean, here are a few of the stranger things that broke on/in Andy:
- Gas Gauge - this broke before I even started driving him in 2005
- Every power window, all four
- Passenger side inside door handle (I'm still sorry to all those who cut their finger on it)
- These little plastic panels behind the inside door handles...? I don't even know...
- Wiper fluid shooters
- Power antenna
(This eventually got stuck in the 'up' position and broke off entirely in a car wash.) - Driver side key hole
(Andy made me be a gentleman to everyone who rode with me.) - The bumper. I don't even know how many times that thing came off...but it was at least 5 times with me driving it and 2 of those times it was entirely replaced.
- Anti-Lock Break System (ABS)
- Only a couple of weeks before he left us, I got in one morning, adjusted my rear-view mirror, and it popped off right into my hand with part of the windshield attached to it. It literally came off with a chunk of glass. That was probably the last straw.
- My personal favorite: the Speedometer, hence the odometer, both the trip odometer and the main odometer.
How many miles did Andy have on him? I have no clue any more. Once the speedometer started to quit working properly, the miles were no longer being logged properly either. On February 11, 2017 at 12:56, 214,060.0 miles were logged. My best terrible guess is that he had closer to 300,000 miles actually driven.
Final drive photos at Suncrest
Andy was even a model for me when I was taking a digital photography class. This was part of a "creative flash" assignment. Man, he looks good!
Back when the little guy rolled past 150,000 miles. So cute!
Me driving during one of many road trips.
Our final drive.
For our final drive, after more than a decade together, I took Andy down the roads we used to drive when I lived on Set Point Circle. We went up to Suncrest and took those photos.
On my way up there with him, I cried. I cried and cried.
On the way back, we drove on Wasatch Blvd - the exact stretches of road where I learned to drive with Andy. I cried and cried.
When I returned home, I told my mother about my drive and we cried and cried.
The memories made with Andy are not gone. I'll always remember the long talks with friends, even coming out to friends, my first kiss, the awe-inspiring road trips and meeting Missy Higgins, the head-clearing drives singing at the top of my lungs... Every dent, every ding, every scratch, and every crack has a memory that is still with me.
Andy, I love you. We will always share this view.
For a brief moment, the clouds cleared and reminded me that I knew this view even when I couldn't see it.