It's gone.

my car, that is.

Mom went outside this morning about 0610 to get the newspaper and my car was not parked there in front of the house. She can downstairs to see if I was home- which I was and had been up for about 30 mins, and asked where my car was.

What do you mean where is my car? (is this like dude where's my car?)

No it was not.

We both went upstairs and I ran outside and looked in the street.

No car.

No broken glass.

Just a dry spot on the street where my car had obviously spent most of the night.
Hmmmm.

I looked up and down the street for several moments hoping that I forgot that I accidentally parked my car in front of another house.
Nope.
It was gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

My dependable Honda
that is paid for;
that has stick people stickers on the back window of me, the kids and Meg along with a St Charles sticker;
that has faithfully driven me (in the 6 years I have owned it) from Texas to Washington to Arizona to Washington to Arizona to Washington;
that has survived numerous wind storms on the island and has dodged many branches falling out of oh so tall fir trees;
that has several areas of sentimental damage- the scrape on the roof where Austin (in his "wallet on a chain" phase) sat on then slid across the top- the scrape on the entire length of the car from an unnamed child's bike handlebar when they were riding too close to the car- the area of the finish on the paint that has come off from Paige's bubbles landing on it (yes that stuff really does take off the finish on a car) when she was blowing bubbles out of the window as we sped down the road- and the most recent (last winter) and by far my most favorite:
A: Mom, watch this.
M: ok.
A: (running full speed towards the car)
M: what are you doing?
A: (stopping) Wait, I messed up.
M:(sigh) ok
A: (running full speed again towards the car, jumping and landing on the landscaping timber in the lavender garden and sliding on it because of course it was icy)
M: that was cool, now get in.
A: No wait, one more time.
M: ok
A:(same thing except this time he is going way too fast and slides right into the rear quarter pannel of my car with all his body weight and momentum)BAM
M: (running over to the other side of the car) are you ok?
A: ohhhh, that hurt
M: Oh, look at my car!
And there is was, the impression of his body is now permanently inprinted in my car.
M: (sigh) let's not do that again, ok?
A: ok.

So there it is.
The ode to my car.
For being a 13 year old car, it was very dependable and it did the trick- got the kids and I safely from A to B. Yes, it had wear and tear, but it was my car and how dare some little punks take it for joy riding or parts or whatever.

Grrrrrrr.

But I have a fabulous insurance company (USAA) and they have always taken care of things the few times in all these years that I have needed them. I have full confidence that they will continue to do so in this situation.

So, if you see my car parked somewhere, or driving around without me in it, please call 911. I really want it back, whole, undamaged, and I would prefer it had a full tank of gas in it, just like how it was when it was taken.

sigh