Ode to Jeff

"I had to stop driving my car for a while…the tires got dizzy." - Steven Wright

On a sunny Labor Day Monday in 2005, I drove the new Ford Freestyle off the lot after the trade-in of the '98 Mercury. We typically didn't purchase new automobiles because the considerable value drop once off the lot, but availability drove us to this choice.  The Ford product was the only model of the new crossover type that offered seats for more than five, and we didn't want a larger vehicle.  We were a family of six and enjoyed being around each other; this seemed to be a perfect fit.

Beth spent the most time with him in the beginning. He carried her to work and back, and despite the warming element in the "heated-seats" failing after a quick six months, he ran very well. Sadly, the replacement heating elements in the seats broke again soon after.  After that, the seats would only warm from the organic warmth of the sun or the human body.  The adjustable pedals were great, however, and that feature nicely accommodated our larger-than-normal height difference between us. It would become our favorite feature and worked with a simple touch of a button. After seven years, however, the need for the third car in the drive became eminent as our oldest three were in high school. The number of events and licensed drivers outnumbered our vehicles, and the additional purchase would again go to Beth, moving the older to the less experienced drivers.

Converting the utility of the Freestyle to the "kid car" reduced the variety of usage. Going forward, he would spend approximately 98% of his life driving to and from high school, the church building, a friend's house, or a teen ministry event. He rarely left the city. In total, he would make the high school trip more than 1000 times over four driving teenaged girls and five years of school and five years of marching band practice. Once, there was a discussion amongst the new drivers about naming the Freestyle. The creativity would evolve in a loose connection game, moving from Freestyle to Freedom to Thomas Jefferson, and landing on "Jeff," short for Jefferson.

Jeff was a workhorse. He would faithfully haul four students who had countless academic books, two string and two woodwind musical instruments, and bibles and notebooks for seven years. Besides school trips, Jeff would travel to some 500 teen ministry events, taking mostly young ladies and a few young men to bible studies and encouragement nights. He drove to the pumpkin farms in the fall, winter teen rally's, spring proms, and summer sleepovers. Jeff built friendships while fostering faith and encouragement. He was able to help many discover God without ever reading a bible.

Jeff entertained and educated. Among many others, he played Dixie Chicks and Pentatonix. He taught us Chinese Mandarin and helped his young passengers become excellent drivers.

He generally had good character but had to work through a few problems. He usually kept us warm in the winter but had recently lost his cool for the summer. He tapped into two other cars, knocked a mailbox, and got ticketed a couple of times. His doors were always difficult to close in frigid temperatures, and he sadly let water inside from time to time.

Jeff has been a valiant steed and kept his passenger's safe daily. He has been an integral part of our family and recently helped another temporarily.

Fourteen years have transpired, and now Jeff has gone off to be with another family. We thank Jeff for helping us love God by taking us to worship and devotionals. Thanks for hosting conversations and playing music so others could sing along. Thanks for your time and for always getting us there.

Create memories, friends.