Friday, March 26, 2021

I feel like such a traitor!

This week I’m crawling through the house, ducking my head when people look my way, dodging direct questions. I look furtively around corners before turning, and sneak past crowded places. I’m about to abandon one of my closest friends, and I’m burdened with guilt.


Ellie has been by my side since I first met her in the fall of 2014. The very day Roger and I first met her, we invited her home with us. I’ve spent time with her almost daily since, and several different times on some days. Occasionally, I’ve spent whole, long hours with her for multiple days in a row. She has been one-hundred percent faithful in her loyalty to me, doing everything I asked of her—and I’ve made some fairly large demands.


Yes, Ellie—short for Elantra—has been among my closest confidantes and friends for the past 6.5 years. She’s heard my joys, my complaints, my prayers, and some of our marital arguments, and she’s been patient through them all. She’s also listened to dozens (maybe hundreds) of hours of Sirius radio and audiobooks. And now, here I am, turning my back on her.


She has taken me, my husband, and other friends and family over 98,835 miles of road—including the 30,000 (+ or -) miles we put on her when Roger and I served a mission in addiction recovery, working for fourteen months criss-crossing the Navajo Nation. Nothing on the rez is near anything else on the rez. We had to drive 130 miles one way just to take Ellie in for her regular check-ups, and we needed to keep her in good health. Pictured is one of the highways we traveled together frequently. (It's tough duty, but someone has to go there.)


Now I’m contemplating selling her, and though I expect to get considerably more than thirty pieces of silver, I still feel like a Judas, betraying my dear pal. Maybe it helps that I don’t intend to replace her. We’re now a household with two people and two cars. Since we’re both retired or working at home, we find that excessive. Ellie is the older of our two close friends (her cousin, Harvey, is the other), so she’s the one on the block.


I can only hope she’ll forgive me.  I’m sorry, Ellie, but I’m afraid it’s time. May you drive on for many miles with new friends, and may they take splendid care of you, keep you safe, and enjoy your loyal friendship as much as I have. 


Susan Aylworth is the author of more than 20 novels. Her newest release is A Rainbow in Paradise, fifth book in her Rainbow Rock Romances, which released March 22. Her  series, Seasons of Destiny, explores romance in every season of the year in the small, former Gold Rush town of Destiny, California, nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills.  Paris in the Springtime, Sunny's Summer,  Amber in Autumn, and Winter Skye are all available now in e-book and paperback. Susan is releasing more new editions of her beloved Rainbow Rock Romances. Over the Rainbow, a prequel to the series, is available free for a limited time to everyone who subscribes to her newsletter. You can sign up on her website: susanaylworthauthor.com. Contact her on her Facebook author page or via susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or join her on Twitter @Susan Aylworth. 

  

1 comment:

  1. I loved my Elantra, too. When we went to one car, we kept her in the family by giving her to our granddaughter.

    ReplyDelete