A Stormy Day

It's not literally a stormy day, but emotionally it's been a bit a of chaos. Today may have been the official end of my car, Little Blue. Some veterans of this blog (why are you still here even? it's been YEARS without anything) may have read about Little Blue. Real quickly, it's my first car, a 2001 powder blue Prius. Little Blue would not start today.

Not my Little Blue, but one of the siblings.

In the past, Little Blue would be a bit fussy -the starter battery would drain after a few weeks away. I've always been able to fix this with a quick jump from a friend's car. Today that didn't work... and I am terrified. Usually, I would at least see a little flicker, a small red light would come on only to weakly fade after a few seconds. That didn't happen today... and I am terrified.

I want to start a few weeks ago though. I had just gotten back from winter break, and I had parked Little Blue in the pathway behind our house in Brownsville. Getting back after around 3 weeks away, I was expecting the battery to be drained, and it was. With my roommates help, we got it jumped and Little Blue was going fine. I was able to drive Little Blue around for a few days without issue. This past week I hadn't really needed to drive around, but I wasn't too worried. Then we got a second freeze for this winter. (As a short aside, Brownsville, Texas doesn't usually get below 50F. It has done so twice so far this winter.) This time Little Blue literally froze over. It was a shocking sight for Brownsville. Having minimal knowledge about vehicles, I still had come to expect the freeze to mess with the battery - little did I know just how much.

Then we get to today. My roommate and I both really wanted some pizza, and we knew that there was going to be a bit of time before it would be ready for pick-up. So the plan was to order, jump Little Blue, and drive Little Blue to get the pizza and charge the battery. Seemed like a solid plan. He pulls his truck over and we go about the usual. Red clamp, red clamp, black clamp, black clamp. He turns on his truck and...

Nothing...

No lights...

No sounds...

Not a whisper...

Just ... nothing...

Little Blue was dead...

We tried a second time.

A deafening silence came from my once spunky car...

Even still, it doesn't seem entirely real. The first car I ever drove or owned (in a matter of sense) was dead on the street as my friend and I tried frantically to resuscitate it. The shock of the moment comes back to me now as a write this out. A part of me, almost a piece of my identity, may not come back.

I know it's silly to get emotional over a car, but I am. Like losing a pet, it hurts.

Luckily, my adviser here in Brownsville was an automechanic for a few years and has offered to help me get the battery out to check how it's doing. It might be that the battery just needs a bit more juicing than we gave it earlier. I'm hoping that's all. It may come down to needing a new battery, which would be a pain, but manageable. But as with most hardships, my mind wanders to the worst scenario - that the car itself has given up.

My dreams of getting to take Little Blue back to California may be lost to me. Friends that last Little Blue over 2 years ago, may not get to see that bright car again. I hope they do, but reality isn't always generous with personal desires.

As if this wasn't enough, the Fates were still feeling a bit pernicious. We jump ahead. Now leaving with pizza in hand, the wind decides to kick up, nearly toppling the remaining half-pizza out of hand and splashing me with Dr. Pepper from my other. Feeling a bit down already, and as we drive out of the parking lot, a pot hole decides I wasn't wet enough and gives me an extra splash of Dr. Pepper. No, I didn't spill it, but it was a bit more emotionally taxing than what I needed at the moment.

I sit here now with tomorrow looming over me. I don't know what's to become of my vehicle of 10+ years.

I'm scared.

UPDATE:

Last week a friend of mine helped remove the battery from Little Blue. With the battery in hand, I went over to AutoZone to see if I could get it charged. It was truly dead, so I bought a new battery. After installing the new battery, Little Blue is humming along just fine. As it turns out, that old battery was only supposed to last around 5 years (well, that was the warranty period), but it lasted nearly 10.