So Long, Old Friend

So, over the years, I have written a few blog posts about my ghetto car.  We've been through a lot together, this car and me.

There was the month that finally came that I had to register the car in Washington and figure out how to put a plate on the front (my older brother did it for me in the end...).

There was the time I had saved up money to buy a tv and instead ended up with snow tires (which have only been used once, I might add...).

And the time the doors froze shut on me and I stood in the driveway at my grandma's house bawling my eyes out.

Which led to the time I tried to prevent that occurrence and would back the car down the driveway and tuck it in at night (literally) and ended up busting my side-view mirror.

Yes, we've been through a lot together, that car and me.  And after over 8 years in my ownership -- and almost 80 thousand miles put on it by yours truly, it finally gave up the ghost.  Not on the best of days; but in the end, even that day the car was sort of taking care of me by dying how it did.  It died in our driveway rather than at my job or at the doctor's office or at the grocery store with a bunch of cold stuff waiting to be taken home to the refrigerator.

And yes, sometimes I complained about my car.  My car with the windows that wouldn't roll down.  My car with the weird metal piece laying at the base of the windshield (inside the car) that vibrated annoyingly, constantly.

But it was still sad to see it go.  And here's why:

That car saw me through two college degrees.

It took me to Dothan, Ashford, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Birmingham, Atlanta, Pensacola, Marianna, Valdosta, Ty Ty, Silverdale, Tacoma, Bellevue, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Forks, Olympia, Tumwater, Belfair, and Bremerton.  Most of those many many times.

It kept limping along with water in its oil (probably the cause of it's demise), a radiator that leaked (and I had to fill up daily until Jeremy replaced the radiator last October), and the check engine light coming on because I refused to fix it (it ran better when the light was on, by the way).  It lived almost 2 years longer than Bob and Buck thought it would when they first discovered water in the oil.

It moved with me to 6 different addresses -- and helped move a lot of my stuff too.

It traveled through parts of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington as it came with me out West.

It was part of fun rides with my sister, my friends, my nieces and nephews, my husband, my dad.

That car was a blessing.  A $2500 blessing that never broke when I couldn't afford it, and always started when it was most crucial that it did.

And so, even though it was time for it to go, it was sad.  And so, I took pictures with my car on that last day.  I said goodbye to the holder of many memories.  And I write them here so I can hopefully always remember them.  I'm a nostalgic kind of person anyway, and I don't think there's a thing wrong with that :).

So goodbye, old friend.  And thanks for the memories :).
 

On a lighter note...  As part of the "getting rid of the car" thing, Jeremy cleaned everything out of it.  Including the MRE (meal ready to eat) I'd had in there for a few years.  You know, just in case some catastrophe occurred while I was in my car and I needed food to survive.  Jeremy isn't one to waste food.  Don't know if you know that or not.  My dad calls him "hoover."  Anyway, so we ate the MRE.  In celebration of turning over a new leaf in the car department.  Haha...

Here I am.  Still smiling.  Because I haven't eaten any of it yet.  Although the look of it alone was pretty horrifying, let me tell you.  Jeremy plated it up and heated it up (in the microwave, since we are choosing to save the heater packets for our 72-hour kits) while I was on the couch house-hunting online, and when I went into the kitchen when he declared it ready...  All I could say was, "That's disgusting."  But it's all about the experience, you know :).  So we shared it.

And here is what we ate (and for some reason every time I load it up, it turns sideways, so I gave up...):  "grilled" "chicken breast" with smoke flavored seasoning (visible on the "chicken breast"); "chicken stuffing" that held the shape of the package nicely (Jeremy said he should have fluffed it); wheat bread/cracker thing with jalapeno cheese sauce on top; orange drink mix; and an apple cranberry ranger bar.  The ranger bar was the best part.  Followed by the wheat bread thing with cheese sauce.  As for the rest of it...  Just allow my copious use of quotation remarks to speak for itself.  YIKES.  Jeremy said it was easier if you just didn't think of it as chicken.  Haha...  Gross.  Oh, and the gum.  It tasted pretty good, but started to fall apart in your mouth after about 20 minutes of chewing.  Gross.  Oh, and there had been M&Ms, but their package busted open and they were gross.  Plus, 3 year old chocolate doesn't hold up all that well...

But I'm a person who loves to make memories.  So this was fun -- though disgusting.  And so I had to take a picture you know :).  Oh, and yes... I was still in my pj's at noon that day.  It was Saturday.  And I had probably gotten out of bed about 1.5 hours before.  Lazy, huh?  Well, my husband is on swing shift and so that's how we roll :).  August will be different when he's back on days.

We opted to go to his parents' house for dinner on Saturday rather than worry with car shopping.  And the house we were hopeful for...  Being sold :(.  Heavy sigh.  But.  We did find out we should have no problem being approved for a loan (we've been pre-approved), so I think that's a marvelous first step :).  Now we just get to have the fun of house-hunting online until the right one turns up :)!  And we'll just keep growing our down payment in the meantime :).

And that is all.