Mine, All Mine

This is a picture of my car. Well, the car that was formerly mine, as I just traded it in, but when it was new (to me) it was one of those weird commercial moments where I got a car for Christmas. Sort of. It was for me, but seeing as how this was December 2015, it was also a safe, reliable car for FutureBaby. 

Exactly once this car housed a car seat (I installed it but then found out that if you get in a fender bender and the car seat is in the car, it's no longer considered safe, so the seat went into the back room closet until it was donated), and there's picture evidence somewhere but I can't find it. Which I think is actually okay, that some of these things are not easily accessible. 

In the past two years, this car started to cost me a lot of money -- it needed new brakes, new wheel bearings, new ball joints, I had the exhaust completely rebuilt, it had a new timing belt, and it recently got new tires and a new battery. All good things, but the car was already 70,000+miles in when I got it and it fast went from super efficient and cost effective to "Uh, WHEN can I expect a bill less than $1200???" 

After the replace-the-battery-at-2-a.m.-at-the-emergency-animal-hospital incident, I was driving home from picking up stuff from a student who discovered a bunch of library books she hadn't returned and my brake light went on. Like, the light that comes on when your emergency brake is engaged (mine wasn't). At the next stoplight I turned the emergency brake on and then off, but the light stayed on. So I called Bryce, and he looked it up while I continued home and it turns out, PSA for you guys, that if your BRAKE light comes on while you are driving it means that your brake fluid is dangerously low. So I drove it straight to the dealership, which was unfortunate because it was full of crap from my classroom and a box or two of things my mom gave me from my childhood and a bunch of plant markers and evidence that I used it to haul plants and mulch recently. I did not know I wouldn't drive it again. 

By the time they got to inspecting it (I was something like 15th in line when I dropped it off), it was determined that the brake lines had rusted out (EEEK) and it failed inspection with another wheel bearing and ball joint that needed replacing, and the total cost was nearly $2,000. At this point, a significant percentage of the value of the car. 

So, we talked, and did some research, and decided that it was time. I am so embarrassed at the state of my car when they evaluated it. I don't doubt that impacted the trade in estimate, which was abysmal, but I also couldn't drive it off the lot without fixing the stuff, so I was a bit nabbed by my metaphorical balls. 

But, I found a used Sunshine Orange CrossTrek that was only 2 years old and had only 28,000 miles, only to find that it was sold (and also that a 2020 was only a couple thousand more and had all the things like warranty and ZERO mileage). 

And so... I said goodbye to the car that was part for me, part for the mythical FutureBaby. 

I am actually smiling in this picture, which makes me concerned for the fall because instead of looking like I have smiling eyes I look a little mad. Or constipated. 

And I said hello to my new little Pumpkin Pie, my first EVER brand new car (I got REAL attached to the idea of sunshine orange): 

I love this car. It's fun, it's zippy, it's smaller than the Outback but can still haul stuff, and is perfect for just me and Bryce. It's all for me, just me. It's for the life I have now, not one that we'd hoped to have but didn't. It's super safe, which would be great for a kid but is also wonderful for me, as I'd like to live, too. I will never lose it in a parking lot. I can't really sneak up on anyone, but that's okay, I wasn't into stalking anyway. It makes me smile every time I see it in the driveway.

Welcome to the family, little Pumpkin Pie! 

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