We said goodbye to our Jeep over the weekend. We had been thinking for a while about getting a new car at some point this year - we just felt that eventually (or now) we needed something bigger and that driving a car around that was no longer under warranty was taking some risk. When all of the car companies started offering 0% financing for the month of March, we started to get a bit more serious.
To make a long story shorter, we decided that we would like a GMC Acadia and started looking around for one. The only one that met all of our requirements was in Carson City, which just so happens to be not far from Tahoe. We had plans to be in Tahoe for the last weekend of the month, so we made arrangements to go see it ... and ended up coming home with it.
We traded in the Jeep, but leaving the car dealership when I should have felt overwhelmingly excited and grateful about getting a new car (which I am...), I ended up feeling a bit teary. This is sort of ironic for a few reasons, 1) the Jeep really was Michael's car, 2) I was the one who complained the most about it - the gas mileage, the rough ride in the backseat, and 3) I took charge and really put in the time and research to find the new car. I never knew or realized that I could be attached to a car, but this one I suppose I was.
When I ask myself why I was so sad to see the Jeep go I realize that, in so many ways, it saw us through some very important times in our lives. After we moved to California we only had one car (the Volvo), and my grandparents were overwhelmingly generous enough to gift us their Oldsmobile for Michael to use until we got on our feet. He drove that car for a good while, but always said that wanted a Jeep. In fact, he went so far to tell me after we were married that there was no way that we would be starting a family until he owned a Jeep. We bought the Jeep, the first car that either of us had ever purchased on our own, on October 23, 2006 ... Luke was conceived later that week. I rode to the hospital in labor in the front seat (covered in trash bags and bath towels ... Michael's precautions!) of that Jeep twice ... and we brought both of our precious babies (the most precious cargo a car can ever carry) home in that same car.
So, thank you black Jeep. Thenk you for protecting and safely delivering my family to destinations near and far, through numerous snow storms, countless times. We have so many wonderful memories attached to you.
