All by myself

 I took my car in for its 30K mile service.

Its something I would normally do with my Dad. It was "our" thing.  We would drive together, use that time to shoot the breeze and either hang out for a couple of hours or he would drive up in his car and bring me back home. We'd then go back later in the day to pick up my car.

I had called the dealership and spoken with the Service Manager and told him of my Dad passing. The guy was very sad to hear the news and had lovely things to say about my Dad. I booked an appt with the dealership, but then decided to reach out to old mechanic. We had used him for my previous car (the one that got rear-ended and totaled in 2015).

This mechanic is a very honest guy whom my Dad liked and trusted. After my old car was totaled, I leased a new car which we had serviced at the dealership. I paid off my new car in Feb, and now that I own it I can go back to my original mechanic.

I called him last week to touch base, He remembered me and was very sorry to hear about my Dad.

My Dad loved taking care of the cars in the family, especially mine and my niece's. My Mom found the binder where he had all the service records for my car. On the first page he had s sticky note saying "next service due 31770 miles". He also had a note from Oct when he had asked me what my mileage was.  On the outside of the binder he had a coupon for oil change which he had printed on Nov 8.

I cried when I saw it all.  How can life end so abruptly!

I sobbed all the way to the mechanic.

I kept hoping to see my dad'd car in my rear view mirror. He would drive up and bring me back home.

Its been a tough day, but I managed and he would be proud of me. He was really particular about taking care of the cars in the family.

Tomorrow I will get the air pressure checked. He always did that every month!