Farewell but not Goodbye

I’ve been getting ready for this for practically a year, it’s what I wanted to do and made the most logical sense, but it was still difficult when it came right down to it. Last Saturday, I sold my MINI.

Initially, the motivation to sell one of the cars was that we only had one parking space. We can use the light rail to get to work and a lot of our shopping is within walking distance, so we probably didn’t need two cars except for the occasional day we head out of San Jose in different directions. At some point, after we got used to the idea of selling one of the cars, this idea morphed into swapping one for a new 2011 Clubman. I’m not entirely sure how this happened now that I think back on it, but it probably had something to do with how neat MINI Connected sounded, and what suckers we are for new gadgets and toys. It also made sense to have one car be a little longer as there have been a few — not many, but a few — times that something we needed to transport didn’t fit in the boot of either Cooper. My ’07 was younger, had fewer modifications, and had an abnormally low odometer reading, so it made sense to be the one up for sale. I loved my little Cooper, and it broke my heart to think of him sitting on the lot at a dealer, so I was thrilled when I found out that a close family friend was interested in being the buyer. Not only would he go to a good and loving home, but I’d even still get to see him now and then!

Last week was a little tough. I got really reminiscent and kept thinking of fun and significant moments: when Jason and I went over to the dealer together to pick him up, parallel parking in the driveway entrance to dodge the street sweeper, hitting the end of the break-in period, the neighbors looking at me like I’m a loon as I washed him in the rain, and lots of others. My MINI was the only one to ever hear me ‘sing like no one was listening,’ and is also the only car I’ve ever driven that made me want to sing for no reason beyond how much fun I was having.

Giving him up felt a lot like I was moving somewhere far away and had to give up a pet for adoption. It felt like there was an endless amount of things I had to remember to tell his new owner, some legitimately important, and others maybe not so much. Instead of “he loves to be scratched behind the ears and this is his favorite toy,” it was “his favorite gas is Chevron Supreme, and he loves to listen to Imogen Heap’s instrumental version of Tidal while motoring down long stretches of freeway at 90 mph.” It wasn’t all sad though. MINI’s new mom was so excited to be a MINI owner it reminded me a lot of when I first got him. She was grinning ear to ear from test driving to paperwork to getting handed the keys. It’s hard to be sad when you know you’re making someone else so happy. :)

December 14, 2010 | MINI