Merci Mini.

I finally had to part with a piece of myself today, that I never thought would be so hard to part with...my Mini Cooper.  In preparation for moving to D.C., a much more expensive city, with fairly good transportation I just couldn't afford to keep it.  I have been tossing and turning for 3 of the past 5 nights wondering if I was doing the right thing.  I felt almost as if I was putting a baby up for adoption, or relinquishing a long time pet to the pound.  The twisting in my stomach was as if I was preparing to get married, or quit an important job.  It is odd how a little 4-wheeled machine can provide such independence and security, so much so that is keeps you up at night not wanting to let go.      

  While combating jet lag, and the swirling thoughts about my Mini, my days have become long. Tired, and heavy eyed, I now can only hope that Mini will enjoy his time with his new owner.  She is from Barcelona and although I feel so bad leaving Mini here in Cleveland to battle the long winters, Mini will be responsible for making her life better here.  He will make her happy.  Although, I wonder if he will ever get out.  I wish I could have sold him to her in Barcelona.  Or maybe to someone in Rome, Italy

where he could bump over the cobblestone streets everyday, and be parked jam-packed among many more of his kind.  Or even to someone in Switzerland where he could be donned with racing stripes and zoom through the long and curvy roads of the scenic Alps...

Goodbye Mini, you were a wonderful friend to me that got me through many hard times.  Whether it was sitting alone with me on a dark night in a grocery store parking lot...just so that I could be all by myself, or shuttling me and all my of cooking ingredients back and forth from kitchen to kitchen, or even just allowing me a bit of warmth and comfortable respite from my dreary, frigidly air-conditioned office on a hot Southern summer day.  Mini, merci, you were amazing.