This past weekend, I reluctantly traded in my nearly 20-year-old car. It was time. I didn’t want to do it, but I know enough about cars to sense that the next repair was going to be astronomical (or impossible).
Without me even having to ask, my husband went with me. I’m glad he did. It was even harder than I thought it was going to be to say good-bye to my trusty old car. So many memories, so many miles, such a huge part of our lives. I remember all four kids piled into it, wrestling a car seat in and out, arguments over who got to sit up front in the bench seat. Then, as the kids got older and much bigger, so much windshield time with just me and the car, singing along to the radio, talking trash about other drivers, until that car really felt like a part of me.
When I signed my name a thousand times at the dealership and got the key fob to that brand new car, I had to fight tears. I cleaned out the old car and stifled the urge to tell them to just forget the whole thing and speed away in my old car. I told myself I was being silly. Who wouldn’t be thrilled about a new car? But then I overheard my husband talking to my old car and quietly telling her good-bye, and I knew it wasn’t just me.
I am glad he was there. Not just because I direly needed the moral support to part with my beloved car, either. I was glad he was there for the first ride in the brand new car, glad he was the first one to see it and sit in it with me. He has been at my side through all of our struggles and battles, and I always knew that one day, all of it would pay off, and we would climb high together. So having him at my side for that first drive home in the new car was only fitting.
He told me he was proud of me and that I earned that car. Neither of us has ever had anything simply handed to us. Everything we have, we can honestly say is 100% ours, that we worked for it, and we appreciate and are proud of all of it.
This morning was my first trip to work in the new car. I still miss my old car, and I am sure I always will. It was a large part of our lives for a long time, something I won’t ever forget.
At each red light, I scanned all the unfamiliar lights, buttons, knobs, and gadgets that I have no idea what they do or what they are for, but I will figure it all out in time. When I got to work, I caught myself turning around to look at that shiny, pretty new car sitting there, waiting for me, and I found myself finally smiling. I don’t know if this one will be with for nearly 20 years like the last one, but it’s time to make some new memories with this one.
Sweat & Sparkle 