Lexie had been with us 15 years, a devoted member of the family who carried us through some of the best and worst moments of our lives. Literally.

As her condition declined over the last few months, we were in denial about how bad off she was. Thankfully, the end came quickly, when she just gave out on the H-1 eastbound near the Dillingham exit.

When Alan at Kaimuki Auto Repair pronounced our 2002 Lexus RX 300 dead, it was not unexpected, but I still felt something akin to grief. (It’s funny how we attribute human personalities to inanimate objects like cars, surfboards, appliances. I wonder whether they feel the same about us.)

When we purchased the Lexus, our careers were on the upswing, and we were on a roll. We didn’t set out to buy a luxury car, but convinced ourselves that, gosh darnit, we worked hard to get where we were and deserved a few nice things like leather upholstery and an automatic six-CD changer.

Lexie served us well over 140,000 miles, providing a roomy interior for sleeping on futons during family camping trips; effortlessly transporting surfboards, coolers, canoe paddles, beach chairs, children, dogs and more on frequent beach outings; handling our many moves with aplomb and lugging tons of household provisions from soooo many trips to Costco.

Both kids learned to drive in the Lexus, which spent more than half their lives as the family car. The proof was there every day to remind us: the missing reflector from when The Boy scraped the front right fender while practicing parallel parking, and the mangled license plate from when Baby Girl rear-ended a rental car full of tourists as she drove to her junior prom. The damage was minor enough that the police officer who responded didn’t even want to make a report, but the tourists sued us anyway. Good times.

Lexie was also there for all those emotional airport farewells and jubilant pickups, panicked trips to urgent care, tense drives to big news stories and quiet, reflective jaunts to nowhere in particular.

If I had a nickel for every memory tied to the Lexus, I’d be able to buy another Lexus. But as empty-nesters, we’d downsized our living space, belongings and budget. It was time to do the same with a new car. Roominess and versatility were no longer as important as senior-friendly front-seat access, good visibility from inside, manageable controls and ease of parking and payments.

Now we’re zipping around town in a subcompact crossover that cost half what we paid for the Lexus in 2002.

Dear Lord, just don’t let me be the first one to ding it.

“She Speaks” is a weekly column by the women writers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@staradvertiser.com.