Stallions among the stars
It’s not often that stallions get to dance among the stars.
Such opportunities are reserved for the very few that can achieve something so superlative as to be difficult to imagine and irrefutably worthy of celebration. I submit that my humble steed – a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE, known to many as the White Stallion – has done just that, and now finds itself in a celestial plane worthy of celebration.
I watched my odometer with quiet anticipation over the last few months, waiting for the little accountants behind it to turn all the rotary dials to reflect an immense achievement. Then, shortly after midnight on a chilly night in October, on an off-ramp from I-75 outside Atlanta, with the “Check Engine” light on, the dials ticked over to the magic number – 238,900 miles, or stated differently, the rough distance from the earth to the moon.
In fifteen years of humble service and steadfast companionship, the White Stallion covered the distance between the earth and the moon. While I can easily recognize that a car operating for any number of miles, exceptional or otherwise, pales in comparison to reaching the moon in the literal sense, this milestone feels incredibly significant in a way that I thought worthy of celebration.
I think about the humility of my hub-cap-less car and how it achieved something of which significantly more celebrated vehicles could scarcely dream. I reflect on how it has asked little of me and given much in return, even when I have neglected its upkeep or operation. I recall all the times that my car was there for friends in need, in one capacity or another. I give thanks for the generosity of my parents who gave me a gift that would bring so much value to my life, eventually becoming a quiet mechanical friend of the most loyal sort.
More than all of that, though, I remember all the moments that my car has witnessed and made possible: a Canadian odyssey with lifelong friends after graduating high school; a night-time trip to the beach to walk hand-in-hand along the surf with my first love; a violent crash on the way to law school for the first time; a phone call with a job offer that was both laughably incredible and my last prospect at the time; a dazed journey to Tennessee for my granny’s funeral; a nervous trip to take someone I loved to my hometown for the first time.
The White Stallion was there for all of that and more. Over the course of 238,900 miles, it has been repaired from one significant accident but has required little else: one set of new axles, one replacement set of spark plugs, two replacement A/C fans, somehow three rear bumpers, and a handful of tires, batteries, and fluid changes. Along the way, it has jettisoned a number of hubcaps along highways like a steed throwing shoes as it gallops toward the next horizon. Outside of that, all it has done is run. Without fault. To the moon.
People are wont to personify the inanimate, and certainly smarter and more expressive people than I have waxed lyrical about the connection between man and machine. I can only say that over time, my humble Camry on which I bestowed a name out of irony has lived up to its epithet, providing support and shelter for more meaningful parts of my life than any real stallion could hope to have done, even in the heyday of human-equine partnership. As it has done so, it has developed its own character and personality with every lost hubcap or squeaky turn of the wheel, all while demonstrating a purposeful resolve that is distinctly human.
Many people in my life have asked whether I’d trade, sell, or otherwise part with my trusty metal steed now that I can contemplate buying a new vehicle. After all, retaining the White Stallion would present a number of logistical and financial challenges for a vehicle that is purportedly worth less than a new Macbook.
But I couldn’t imagine casting aside my car for a reason so trivial as reason. In the course of our lives, some things come to mean more than their objective worth, and while it’s difficult to explain why to those that have not shared the journey with it, that difficulty does not invalidate the bonds that are formed.
So on this occasion, I think the White Stallion deserves the limelight for its exceptional achievement. Many more miles and adventures lie ahead, but no matter what comes, I love the idea that the soul of this tremendous machine has achieved a place among the stars that its terrestrial vessel has figuratively reached.
