R.I.P. - My $5 Styrofoam Cooler

We are gathered here today to honor one of the most trusted and reliable friends I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, my $5 styrofoam cooler I bought from Buddy's convenient store at the beginning of the summer.

I feel like I hardly got to know it, but I treasure the time I spent with it. Most styrofoam coolers are good for one quick outing and the handle falls off or they simply break down. But not mine. We shared plenty of great times together. Lounging by the pool. Drinking before a Braves game. Resting quietly on the beach. Creaking loudly in the back of my car as we head to a concert, as if to say "Hooray! I'm alive and I want all to know it!"

My cooler even got to live out its life long dream of attending a UGA tailgate. That's right, the big time. It was carried all the way from the top of the hill on Baxter to the Myers quad. It was so full of beer and ice that we had to take turns carrying it. By the time we reached our final tailgate destination, its red handles had grown pink around the edges, tired from the strain.

I placed it beneath a tree. We both knew its time had come, but we knew it was going to go out with one hell of a party. We chugged its contents. We cracked open beers and funneled them, spraying the cooler with the foamy goodness it loved refrigerating. We celebrated its non-biodegradable life.

And then the time came. Kickoff wasn't far off. I had to leave. Where I was going, it couldn't follow. We left one 16oz Miller High Life inside as a tribute to all that had come before it and to the truly high life it had lived.

And I said goodbye to my friend.

I know I'll go back to that spot under the shade tree and remember. Just remember.

For $5, that styrofoam cooler supplied me with more than just a place to store drinks and lunch meat. It supplied me with memories and stories of this fabled summer. And for that, I'll never forget it.

Thank you $5 Styrofoam Cooler from Buddy's. Thank you. You may have been designed to keep things cold, but believe me when I say, you warmed my heart.