A New Love

I love my Jeep. I have driven it for over 10 years and put 135K of its 165K on the car. I didn't care that the air conditioning system leaked freon and had to be recharged every year. I didn't care that it had a tiny oil leak these last couple of years. I put up with the tape deck making that screechy noise when it played. It was a minor inconvenience when the window control for the rear right side became temperamental and would lock up whenever Jo had tried it, until she did it again and unfroze it. I was even prepared to put in a new radio last month when the current one stopped playing FM stations. Besides, I have that phone that works like an mp3 player so I used it. But the last straw, so to speak, broke the camels back when the oil leak got drastically worse last week. I had started early in the year preparing myself for trading it in on a new car. It was hard to go anywhere with more than just our two kids, it was loud to ride in, and vibrated. Each day I kinda was relieved when it started and got me places. The tires are 4 years old so I knew I wasn't putting new ones on it. It's just that the Jeep was the first major purchase of our married life. We bought a truck right before we got married, but it was a pittance, compared to a two year old Jeep Grand Cherokee. I remember feeling so privileged to drive such a fancy car. My previous car had been an '85 Honda Accord Hatchback with carburetor problems. I remember when we bought it, we thought we would drive it for a long time. I was looking at 10 years I hoped. Once we had Je, and I realized how much room car seats take up, I was thinking that we might need to trade it off before we had child three, but maybe we could squeak by until the fourth if we waited for three long enough to get Je out of a car seat. Now we know that they have changed the law, and Je is in a booster for another two years. We also know that we may never get to a third or fourth child, we probably won't biologically get there unless God over rides a vasectomy. But it was time to let go of my first car love. (Actually, my first car love was my Volvo Diesel, I called him Sherman, but my Dad sold him when the engine block had microscopic cracks in in and got me the Honda, not a car love at all with that one) I have joined the ranks of the Mini-Van Moms
Isn't it pretty? This is just a picture of a Kia Sedona that I found online, but it is the right make, model and color. We got it Tuesday night, so that night, I was just kinda dazy. We'd spent the day checking out cars and working details. We drug the kids along and they did great until about 6:30. Which was just when we were cutting the deal. I was ready to have the whole process over with. We had test driven this one right before lunch, and when we indicated that we weren't ready to commit to it, they pushed us to take it for the afternoon to try it out. Since I really liked it, but wasn't ready to buy it, we agreed to try it. When I casually mentioned that we liked to sleep on big decisions, they offered to let us have it overnight. As we discussed the car over lunch, Shan and I really felt like this was the right car, if the numbers worked out. We ran over to Lawrence to pick up part of our down payment, and stopped to see my sister. On the way back to town, I felt like this was the right decision, and that God was leading me to this one. I also knew that if I left it to morning, I wouldn't sleep. So we stopped back by the dealer for some number crunching. I got on the phone with Mom between salesman visits, and got some good advice. I was tired and ready to get out of there, so I went back to the table, gave him my bottom line, deal-breaker offer, and said if he met my price and put the key less entry in, then I would deal tonight, if not, I am going home. He came back about 10 minutes later, and I have a new mini-van. Last night I slept well so feel good about our decision. That is always my fleece, sleep well, good decision, no sleep, bad decision. So now I am totally excited about my new wheels. Second (or third) car love is pretty good too!