I am okay.
Yesterday, after a successful Pop-Up with MAUM Market, I was driving home along the West Side Highway corridor when my brakes gave out. In a split second, I spotted an opening in traffic, switched lanes, drove onto the sidewalk, and rammed into the side of a building to stop the car.
After the police arrived, I sat on some steps waiting for the tow truck, still in shock, when a middle-aged man walked by. He stopped, bent nearly ninety degrees, and walked the entire length of the car, inspecting every inch. Then he straightened up, looked at me, and said: brake failure, huh. You did good. You did the best possible thing in that scenario. Good job. And then he walked away. I remember muttering thank you as he disappeared down the block.
There were signs. There are always signs.
My husband and I had already been talking about getting a new car. We wanted something newer, something safer for the kids. But our 22 year old, '04 Toyota Matrix, kept getting pushed down the to-do list. We live in the city. We do not drive often. It felt manageable to wait. It wasn't.
So consider this your sign. Schedule that health checkup you have been putting off. Get the car inspected. Do the thing you keep moving to next week. Signs have a way of becoming emergencies when we ignore them long enough. Do not wait for the universe to force your hand.
I got incredibly lucky. The car was totaled.
I have a lot of feelings about saying goodbye to our Toyota. It was a gift from my brother-in-law, shipped all the way from California. Our first car. The car that made every single pop-up possible. The car I drove home from the hospital with my second born in the back seat. The car that took us as far as Vermont and Maine. To most people it probably looked like the oldest, most beaten up car on the block. To me it was a golden nugget that made so many things possible.
Goodbye, my little Toyota that could. Thank you.
With love,
Maria
Goodbye little Toyota. You did good.