Camilla Red Pearl

That was the "official" name of the color of the pink / purple 1994 Honda Civic EX we've had for the past 13 years.  

My dad bought me that car just after I graduated high school.  I loved it!  I thought I was so cool pulling back the sun roof in 115 degree weather in St. George, going to Dixie College.  We have some great memories with that car.  First trip Phil and I took in it we'd been dating about 2-3 months and we loaded it with some friends and drove from St. George up to Bear Lake to stay in a cabin for a weekend.  SO much fun!   I remember his navy blue hoodie and his blonde frosted hair tips. Wow, what a hottie!  (Oh how I wish he'd do that again--the blonde highlights--at the age of 32, but I just can't seem to talk him into it!)  Phil and I can still recall the songs we listened to in that car on the way up.   Good old Deana Carter and Roxette!  Those were the days!  

When we got married we needed another car so I got the cool Montero Sport and Phil got the purple, no pink, okay camilla red pearl car.  What a sport!  13 years later, Utah, Missouri, Arizona, South Dakota...it's been through it all.  Phil, bless his heart drove that car in the freezing cold when the heater never would warm up by the time he got where he was going and having to scrape the ice off the outside and the inside of the wind shield.  Then in the dead heat of Phoenix, in one hour plus commutes each way each day, he had no air conditioning and not to mention no radio.  

13 years later and I will tell you that he never complained about driving that car in those conditions.  I've always gotten the nice new car and he has never thought twice about it.  Occasionally I'd have to drive it while he'd take my SUV or van in to get something fixed and I will tell you I complained about it every time!  That's what I love so much about him.  He has ALWAYS taken care of me and the kids and never complained that he didn't get a new car or a new shirt or pair of shoes while the rest of us did.

But all good things must come to an end.  We retired the civic finally and bless his soul I still had to convince him to let it go.  No, not because he loved it by all means, but because he is practical and couldn't stand the thought of having a car payment.  

So. After 13 years Phil got his very own new car just for him!  Well deserved my dear, well deserved!  

That day was very bitter sweet for me.  I cried like a baby when we left it at the car lot all by itself as we drove away in a new car.  It was not just a piece of cracked, rusted, beat up metal.  It was a piece of us, part of our dating memories, part of our adventures around the country, part of our family.  For me it was a symbol of my dad's love for me.  My dad and I went shopping for a car in February 1998 and when we saw this beaut, we knew it was the one.  I will never forget picking that car out with him on a rainy day in Layton, Utah.  And not even 5 hours later I got hit in it.  $500 in repair costs later and my dad never lost that smile on his face when he saw me driving it.  I called my dad as I drove away leaving it in the car lot and I'm not sure if he even understood a word I said as blabbered like a bawl baby about how grateful I was to him for that car and the love he sent with it. 

Okay, I know, really...it's a car...when I started this post I never would have believed I would have had so much to say about it.