#80 Janie's Continuing Journey

Way back at the beginning of my blog (post #4, to be exact), I wrote about how I had personally put 100,000 miles on my 1999 Honda Civic, Janie. Today was another historic day in our relationship. Janie rolled 200,000 total miles while Tess, Lanie, and I were on our way home from running some errands. With that many miles and after nearly 20 years, I think Janie is probably eligible for retirement. We don't have any definite plans to get rid of her yet, but the time is coming. (And if we ever hit the point where our family is growing again, I'm sure the time will have come.)

I'm going to want to cry if I spend any more time thinking about life after Janie. So instead, let's celebrate my faithful green Civic. To commemorate Janie's milestone, I made this map of all the states she and I have visited:

If you can't read the map text, the states in green are the states Janie and I have called home over the past 11 years, while the states in blue are other states we've driven through. As you can tell, I'm a Midwest boy through and through. However, we did have a glorious road trip out to Washington for a summer internship during seminary. Those were some great times.

Over the years Janie and I have taken seemingly countless trips to different churches I've attended: Living Hope, Emmanuel, Grace. We drove back and forth to my longtime summer job at Advanced Energy Control so many times that I think I could make that drive in my sleep. We've had so many outings for pizza at Nonna's or seminary nights at Uccello's or custard at whichever Culver's happened to be closest. We made so many journeys back to Waupun from Palos Heights and Grand Rapids. Through it all, Janie has been a faithful friend, a dependable DJ, a shelter from the elements, a capable cargo-hauler, and a smooth ride.

When I ran cross country in college, we would sometimes run through a large cemetary near Trinity's campus. Some of the monuments in that cemetary were gigantic. One day my friend Ryan and I joked that if I was ever buried there, my grave would be marked with a lifesize marble replica of my Honda Civic, and Jesus and I would be sitting up front. It's one of the more ridiculous things I've ever discussed in my life, but I think it speaks to how closely Janie and I have been associated for over a decade. She's a great car. I'm sure her legend will be passed down through generations of Hofmans to come.

Grace and peace,

BMH