I don't consider myself overly sentimental, but there are certain things that I hold very dear to my heart. My lola's 100 year old dresser that was forced on me by my mom, that through the years I have grown to love. A necklace that was given to me by a dear friend that I swore I will never stop using, I remove it once a year to clean and that's it. An old omega that was given to my dad in 1956 as a graduation present by my lolo. This list was inspired by an afternoon conversation I had with my dad. It has been several years since we started repairing our ancestral house in Bulacan, and we think that very soon it will be done (That's what he says every year). So part of the renovation, is bringing home some of the furniture that was originally from there.
The conversation was long, he told me lots of stories from his childhood and some about the stuff we had at home. But one constant thing in his adventures was his his bike and his WWII jeep. This got me thinking , in all of my early adventures, there was also one constant thing. My first taste of freedom, how could I forget that there was one thing that always stood by me, never let me down, I knew would never leave, but drank a lot of gas.... My sentra.
I remember the first time I heard dad was taking her home. It was Christmas of 96, he said that he might get a sentra and he was asking what I thought about it. I said it was okay, pretty fast for that time and a lot of lasalistas drove one, if you can remember the sentra boys. Just like any adolescent teen, visions started pouring into my head. I was gonna do it slowly, I knew if I planned it properly, he wouldn't notice that I already claimed the car for myself. Plans of lowering it, mags, sounds, a noisy tail pipe and of course painting it "loud red". No one knew what I was planning except my best friend. But I was ready, the plan was going to be flawless.
As Christmas past, the car didn't arrive. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, there was no sign of my next conquest. So at one point I lost my faith and surrendered to the idea that I will forever drive my moms charade.
A few months after I started my 2nd year in High School, my dad called and said that I needed to go home, he was gonna show me something. As I walked inside that house, there it was a blue car, with black bumpers, but it wasn't our car. So my heart was raising, I felt that my time has come, she's finally here, My Sentra.
It was a love affair from the very start. I can't remember the countless times I stayed up dreaming of the finished product. I would wake up at 2 am go to the garage and make sure she was still there. It was a surreal feeling, I now experienced one of the most important experiences in a mans life. The relationship with my first car.
Looking back for the next five years, I did everything with that car. My first long drive, my first date, my prom and ball, and a lot of other firsts! I believe that nothing during my teenage years made a bigger impact than that car. Many years have past since I used My Sentra, it is now being used by the family as the extra car. I admit, for something that has made such an impact, I have neglected to take care of it the way it deserves to be. And just like many things in life, My Sentra and I had many memories, many happy ones, and some sad. But just this morning as I stepped out of the house to go to work, I got a glimpse of my old faithful sorta beaten up Sentra, funny thing is no matter what, every time I think of it,no fail, it still makes me smile.
It was a love affair from the very start. I can't remember the countless times I stayed up dreaming of the finished product. I would wake up at 2 am go to the garage and make sure she was still there. It was a surreal feeling, I now experienced one of the most important experiences in a mans life. The relationship with my first car.
Looking back for the next five years, I did everything with that car. My first long drive, my first date, my prom and ball, and a lot of other firsts! I believe that nothing during my teenage years made a bigger impact than that car. Many years have past since I used My Sentra, it is now being used by the family as the extra car. I admit, for something that has made such an impact, I have neglected to take care of it the way it deserves to be. And just like many things in life, My Sentra and I had many memories, many happy ones, and some sad. But just this morning as I stepped out of the house to go to work, I got a glimpse of my old faithful sorta beaten up Sentra, funny thing is no matter what, every time I think of it,no fail, it still makes me smile.
