14 years!

I bought a car when I graduated from college (the first time). An old, silver, beat-up Honda Civic. I didn't have a car the whole time I was in college, so this was the first car I had ever owned. I paid too much for it (I think $1500) and then had to turn around and put more money to make it so it was safe to drive. A couple months later, when I finally realized I had bought a bit of a lemon, I went with my dad to go "test drive" a new Honda Civic. They had a college graduate financing program (which they still do), they gave me a screamin' deal and I came home with blue/green beauty. My parents had graciously given me the down payment (I think it was $800) in exchange for my rusty "trade-in," and my brother ended up using that car while learning many valuable car fixing skills.

I loved this little car. When John and I first got married, we had two car payments and it was too much for us, so we decided to get rid of one of our cars and buy something a little more becoming of college students. I didn't have to put up much of a fight to keep my little blue civic - he saw the value in my little car.

We paid it off, put a new air conditioning unit in it, changed out the spark plugs, put in new timing belts (three times!) lovingly changed the oil when it needed it and watched as it slowly sank into the world of a hoop-dee. The back door wouldn't open from the outside anymore. The driver's side window would not go up or down and would let rain (and car wash juice) in. The headliner was nice and snowy - especially in the back where Annie was able to reach and play with it. Just last year, we put in more than $400 worth of repairs just to keep it functioning - and it would have been a whole lot more if John wasn't willing to experiment a little. We saw the beginning of the end, and it made me a little sad. It was in this car that I traveled from Little Rock to Atlanta to be courted by my husband. We brought Annie home from the hospital in this car. We moved from Athens to Greenville to Phoenix. We put 205,000 miles on this car. This car had been good to us . . . but . . .

When we got pregnant, I asked John if it wasn't time to start looking at getting him a new commuter  car and letting me have the van. He agreed that we needed to start looking. Quicker than I thought possible, we went to a dealership where the "perfect" car for us magically appeared, was in our price range, and they were willing to give us what we wanted on the trade-in. Without me even able to take a picture (I didn't think about it until after we left the dealership), we drove in with my little blue Honda Civic and drove out with a later model gold Honda Accord.

It was a good trade. I now have the van to piddle around in and will be able to cart two children around without throwing my back out trying to get them strapped in. John gets a car that gets better gas mileage and is better suited for getting him to work and back. I just keep thinking about the 14 years that I owned that car. If cars could talk, that one would have lots of stories to tell. Maybe I should go back to the dealership and ask them to put in this little note:

Dear New Owner,

I have been dented and bruised. I have seen many parts of this country. I have lots of miles to prove that my life has been good.

I have been loved.

Sincerely,
Blue/Green Honda Civic