Newman

As the snow falls my mind turns to a dear friend of mine who has gone on. His name was Newman, my first car. The light blue '89 Mazda 626 was passed down to me when David went on his mission my sophomore year. He was a beater, but he was mine. Jed Nordfelt said he needed a name. Being the Seinfeld fan he is he named him Newman, and it stuck. Here are a few of my favorite memories:
-Climbing in the passengers door because the driver's door is frozen shut
-Trying to scrape off the ice at 5:30 in the morning but giving up after clearing a small hole to see through.
-The stinky heater that would work sometimes
-Sweating to death in the summer after practice (no air conditioning)
-Getting my first and only flat tire
-Parking in the staff lot. My dad got me a staff parking sticker for school. Most days I would abide and park with the students, but there was no way I was going to park on the range.
Newman broke down in the fall as we headed back to Ephraim. Luckily he hung in there until we got to school. It was a snowy day when they towed him away, and I didn't get to tell him good-bye. A few months later we were driving through Chester (a small town between Nephi and Ephraim) and I found him. There he sat in the local junk yard. I made Kev pull over so I could get a closer look. I ran to him and asked Kevin to take a picture of us. The owner of the yard came out wondering what we were doing. She was very nice and gave us a few moments alone to say our good-byes.
I never really loved Newman until he was gone. Wherever you are Newman, you are missed.