The Mother Hen

The Long and Overdue Post

This is Cho.

Cho was our 1999 Honda Accord that we sold in August. And now you know why this post is overdue: yes I said August. I just had to blog about Cho though because it would be totally not like me not to blog about Cho. I name my cars so it should come to no surprise to you that I would blog about them.

My very first car's name was Elvis. It was a blue Chevy Spectrum and it rocked my world and the world of all my high school girlfriends who didn't have their own wheels. I got it in high school with settlement money from a car accident in which I was a passenger. Ironically, Elvis died when a car hit me head on because some idiot waved me on from a side road and like a retarded college student that I was, I went and the car traveling in the lane next to him, the car I couldn't see, hit me as I turned into the opposite lane. I know that is hard to follow, especially with all the poorly placed commas, without a diagram but trust me that Elvis was totaled and I got 2 black eyes out of the deal. Best part of the story: I was heading to my boyfriend Eric's house to pick him up to go to a hockey game (there is just so much wrong with that scenario that I'm just going to leave it alone and let you all question me in your comments about why I was picking him up and why for pity's sake were we going to a hockey game?). So anyway, 1 totaled car, 2 black eyes and 3 nights later Erick broke up with me after a NewsBoys concert. Yes, he broke up with me while I had 2 black eyes. And that my friends is how Eric got the name "Eric the Bastard".

My next car was Margarita. A white, hatchback Hyundai that drove me from Montana to Oregon. A few years later she died and I sold her for $60 and bought a VCR with the money. 'Nuff said. Well except for that Jeff and I love to tell the story how we sold a car and bought a VCR with the money.

Next, the turd brown Ford Taurus my Mom gave me as a quasi wedding-you-finally-graduated-from-college present. I named her "Sin Wagon" after that great scene in "Grease" where Sandy says, "You expect to just stay here in this, this...sin wagon?"

At last that brings us to Cho. Cho was the first car Jeff and I bought as a married couple. It was our first "big" purchase. We initially thought we would call him Silver Bullet but then we went to LA for a Beaver game and stayed with our friends Cho and Margaret. Cho is absolutely THE WORST DRIVER ON THE PLANET and drove the LA freeways like he was running from cops. No lie. When we got home, Hot Jeff suggested we name the new Honda after Cho and I was all for it!

And here is why Cho gets a whole blog post devoted to him. Because he was the greatest car to ever be made. Great gas mileage. Ran like a dream. Never needed any work. I really believe I would have driven Cho well into eternity if only he would have had side air bags. You see, not having side air bags + 2 kids in car seats always left Hot Jeff a little uneasy. We had known since Samuel was born we wanted a Pilot. After driving Cho we knew we would never buy anything other than a Honda and the Pilot was an obvious choice. Well, actually the Odyssey van was the obvious choice but in the 10th grade I made a pinky promise with b-f-f Traci that we would never drive mini vans and well you just can't go back on a pinky promise. So again, Pilot = Obvious Choice.

It was the day after we sold Cho to a nice young chap named Travis that I got all nostalgic. I called Jeff at work all crying and said, "Cho was the first car we bought as a married couple. We parked Cho in the garage of the very first house we bought. We brought our babies home from the hospital in Cho. Oh I CAN'T BELIEVE WE SOLD CHO". And Jeff said, "Babe, I'm at work". And I was all, "I know you're at work. Sniff, Sniff, I called you" and then he was like, "No, I'm at work. Can we talk about you crying over a car when I get home or when I go to lunch?" and I was like, "I CAN'T BELIEVE WE SOLD CHO". And again I say, I can't believe that man stays married to me.

A few days later we bought THE Pilot, who you all know as Harriett and who Samuel still really bitterly calls Sally, and pretty soon I found myself saying, "Cho who?"

No, no, I'm just kidding. I'm not that fickle. I will always love Cho. I BROUGHT MY BABIES HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL IN CHO... I will always love Cho but here's to new cars. When Hot Jeff got home from work the evening of the phone call he reminded me that we had all sorts of new memories to make in a new car. What a sweet husband. He was right.

Here's a picture of me with Harriett right before I drove her off the lot. She's a beauty.

We've had her a little over a month now and no one has thrown up in her yet; I figure there's still time.