Walttriznastories's Blog

A PERSONAL LOSS

October 7, 2015 at 8:24 pm Leave a comment

Just recently I learned that my baby is beyond repair, rust of the underside is the culprit.  This was the second car I ever owned, purchased in 1975, a 1973 Super Beetle.  The reason for the purchase was the theft of my first car, a 1970 Beetle while I was working in the Bronx.  I drove my 1973 Beetle in New Jersey.  Next was a trip to Florida.  After driving to Florida I drove my love to California, and finally it was transported to Pennsylvania in 1985.  Residing in Pennsylvania became its death knell.  What has ceased to exist is not so much a car, but the representation of a fountain of memories.

Here is a brief history.

I learned to drive while in the air force during pilot training, stationed in Selma, Alabama, in a Beetle.  I knew how to fly, but not how to drive.  I recall driving the backroads and, when another Beetle passed, honking at each other.  I purchased my first Beetle in 1970 while stationed at Sheppard AFB, in Wichita Falls, Texas.  I loved it; my first car.  When released from the service, (I washed-out of pilot training and became a missile crew commander)  I drove my car home to Newark, New Jersey.  As previously mentioned, while working in the Bronx my car was stolen.  The sense of loss I experienced was extreme.  My first car was gone.

Now the memories associated with my 1975 Super Beetle.

My mother who died in 1981 at the age of 59, rode in that car.  The car transported me and my mother on shopping trips and excursions to buy Christmas trees.  I drove the car from Newark to Miami to continue my career in nephrology research.  When the location of my job changed, I drove my Super Beetle from Miami to Los Angeles, my brother as my companion.

My Beetle and I spent seven years in Los Angeles where one time my next door neighbor needed a ride and got to meet Peggy Lee, quite unexpectedly.

So many memories caught up in a vehicle.  Now I have only memories for my Super Beetle is dead.

Entry filed under: memoir, THOUGHTS. Tags: air force, Alabama, Beetle, car, driving, loss, memories, non-fiction, remembering, Selma, Super Beetle, Texas, Volkswagon, writing.