I walked out to the garage Saturday evening and it just hit me like a ton of bricks. This week will officially end an era with my kids. "Hopefully" we will be trading in our gas guzzling SUV this week. I've had my car for six years now, driven over 139,000 miles, the majority of them with my kids! Yikes! When we got the car, my kids were 12, 11, 8. I was driving all three to and from school, 30 minutes away, three times a week on average. Add to that various activities, family road trips, transitioning between households, running the forgotten book - shoes - you name it and we racked up a lot of miles together!
Unofficially, the era ended two years ago when Jax got his license and then Elle last year. Now they do most of their running around themselves. Other than missing them from time to time on the drive home when I look back at the empty the car, I haven't really allowed myself to explore the significance in our new situation.
What I've been focused on - it's just me and Little Hart now for most of the driving - I've increased my driving frequency to five days a week - twice a day during the school year. A lot of car for two people. Originally when we purchased my car I wanted it to have plenty of room for the three kids. Plain and simple I WANTED MY SANITY! Now downsizing to a sedan and ultimately a hybrid seemed a natural. All the while never dawning on me the significance and the affinity I would feel towards my car, let alone getting rid of it all together.
Nine weeks ago, we started the process to replace my SUV with a Lincoln Hybrid which I talked about in my Going Green post. Now three potential cars later - the dealership called Friday to say -- we weren't getting the car we had been waiting five long weeks for. Of course they waited until two days before the car was to be delivered to break the news. And, by the way we do have a different car on our lot that you may be interested in, we'll make you a deal! Clearly we have not got the whole story on this one.
Raylan and I talked it over for a full two minutes and realized the universe was trying to tell something -- this isn't the right car for us. So we passed! After my minor meltdown - nine weeks and counting - need I say more! We quickly moved on to Plan B, another hybrid and the rest is history - "hopefully". We are supposedly getting the car by Friday. Keep your fingers crossed.
Now that it looks like the change in vehicles will actually happen. I'm coming to grips with the fact, I do have feelings of nostalgia tied to my old car. Me and the SUV have trekked a kid here or there so many millions of times and it feels like it has gone so damn quick! Wish I would have enjoyed every second of it even more than I did. My car will be leaving the garage for the last time this week and with it an era.