we bought the van on tuesday. my car now belongs to someone else.
i cleaned it out on monday since i didn't know when we'd be getting the van. i cried as i did it. i know it is a car, that they don't have feelings or anything and that i shouldn't mourn over a possession, but i had that car for a long time. 13 years. that's a long time to have a relationship with something! even the boy was sad that we were trading it in. of course, i think he was sad becos he thought we were trading his car seat along with it.
i bough my '96 chevy beretta in april 1996 after i got a job with children and youth. my car at that time, an '83 buick skyhawk, was old and tired and not really good for my job since i'd be traveling and transferring kids around. i had to borrow money from my mom for the down payment since i didn't have a lot of savings. at 22, before i had even graduated from college, i had a new job and a new car payment of $254.64.
i loved my new car. the color was black orchid but the color reminded me of cool grape popsicles. 2 door'd, i felt hot having a "sports coupe." it had a tape deck! functioning AC! i was living the life!
i loved driving that car but learned that 2 doors was a hindrance. when i transferred kids in my car, it was hard installing the car seats. the car didn't hold many kids either. i'm sure i broke some law having a little kid ride in the front seat.
i hadn't had the car very long when the paint started flaking off. the hood, the roof, the trunk. i was pissed becos THIS WAS A NEW CAR, THE PAINT SHOULD NOT BE PEELING OFF! turned out that chevy had used defective paint (and later i learned, the primer was defective) and that all their cars painted either blue or purple had peeling paint. fortunately the dealer where i bought the car repainted the car twice, free of charge, over the course of 3 years. after the dealer closed and my records were transferred to another dealer, i never could get another free paint job even tho the previous jobs were bad. i guess chevy was washing their hands of me.
i scratched the front passenger fender on a pipe on a dead end street late at night. i hit the pipe trying to turn around in someone's driveway. my car now had a scar.
actually, the car's first scar was on the front bumper, after i hit a stone bridge trying to do a 3 pointer on a narrow street in shamokin. the plastic bumper had 2 small scratches that i could paint but couldn't get rid of.
i knocked off the passenger side mirror on a mile marker while transferring a foster kid. i had to replace the mirror (thank goodness for the junk yard near my folks - i could get a replacement mirror for $20). and a few weeks ago i cracked that mirror's case for good, when i bumped it against the entrance of the garage by accident.
a few years ago a neighbor accidentally backed into the driver side rear panel while backing up a trailer. he paid for the repairs under the table.
aside from my stupid little bumps, i never was in an accident with the mangemobile.
my car had less than 80,000 miles. after i quit working at the county, i only racked up enough miles going to my jobs, which were usually less than 10 miles from my house. i'd say in the past 10 years, i haven't put on more than 30,000 miles.
my car drove me all sorts of places. it knew nearly every road in my county. we used to cruise when i had a lot of time between visits. i did a lot of cruising in the southern part of the county. transferred lord knows how many foster kids and parents to visits and hearings. spent many nights on call.
my car saw me date hubby, get engaged, get married, move to norry, have 2 miscarriages, carried one noisy messy kid, and many many bags of groceries, yarn runs, target trips.
over the past few years, mangemobile's paint coat became unmanageable. we'd bought cans and samples of paint and touched up as best as we could. but the roof was starting to rust.
we hadn't planned on getting rid of the car. we really didn't have the money and planned to keep both cars as there'd be room for the boy and new baby. but when we found out we were having twins, the truth was inevitable. while hubby's car would be a tight squeeze with a boy and 2 babies, it would be nearly impossible to transport that many people plus stuff in my car.
we bought a 2008 hyundai entourage. plenty of room, easy to drive.
i traded my car for $300. i was surprised to get that much money for my car.
my last trip in the mangemobile was to knitting. before that i drove to the school to get the boy's kindergarten application. that alone made me cry. losing my faithful car made me feel bad too.
i like the new van. i sit up higher, i reach the atm easier, and i have a lot of room to spread out. but the car is also bigger, wider and i feel like i'm driving a bus. i'm paranoid i'm going to knock a mirror off or something. it's just something i'll have to get used to.
but hopefully my beloved car with have a new life. people hubby worked with were interested in buying the car (after the fact of course) only to learn that it was already spoken for. our regular mechanic called hubby to inquire as to why we sold the car - here a friend of his was interested in it! and another coworker of hubby said if he'd known we were trading the car he would have bought it for his son. i had no idear that my car would cause that much commotion! but i was praying that someone would see the beauty in my ugly mangy car, see past the peeling rusting paint and shredded seat and give my car a new life.
i like our new van, who will bring us on many adventures, including the one we'll have this summer with the twins!
but i'll never forget my little purple beretta, whose faithful service i will never forget. the mangemobile will live in my heart forever.
i cleaned it out on monday since i didn't know when we'd be getting the van. i cried as i did it. i know it is a car, that they don't have feelings or anything and that i shouldn't mourn over a possession, but i had that car for a long time. 13 years. that's a long time to have a relationship with something! even the boy was sad that we were trading it in. of course, i think he was sad becos he thought we were trading his car seat along with it.
i bough my '96 chevy beretta in april 1996 after i got a job with children and youth. my car at that time, an '83 buick skyhawk, was old and tired and not really good for my job since i'd be traveling and transferring kids around. i had to borrow money from my mom for the down payment since i didn't have a lot of savings. at 22, before i had even graduated from college, i had a new job and a new car payment of $254.64.
i loved my new car. the color was black orchid but the color reminded me of cool grape popsicles. 2 door'd, i felt hot having a "sports coupe." it had a tape deck! functioning AC! i was living the life!
i loved driving that car but learned that 2 doors was a hindrance. when i transferred kids in my car, it was hard installing the car seats. the car didn't hold many kids either. i'm sure i broke some law having a little kid ride in the front seat.
i hadn't had the car very long when the paint started flaking off. the hood, the roof, the trunk. i was pissed becos THIS WAS A NEW CAR, THE PAINT SHOULD NOT BE PEELING OFF! turned out that chevy had used defective paint (and later i learned, the primer was defective) and that all their cars painted either blue or purple had peeling paint. fortunately the dealer where i bought the car repainted the car twice, free of charge, over the course of 3 years. after the dealer closed and my records were transferred to another dealer, i never could get another free paint job even tho the previous jobs were bad. i guess chevy was washing their hands of me.
i scratched the front passenger fender on a pipe on a dead end street late at night. i hit the pipe trying to turn around in someone's driveway. my car now had a scar.
actually, the car's first scar was on the front bumper, after i hit a stone bridge trying to do a 3 pointer on a narrow street in shamokin. the plastic bumper had 2 small scratches that i could paint but couldn't get rid of.
i knocked off the passenger side mirror on a mile marker while transferring a foster kid. i had to replace the mirror (thank goodness for the junk yard near my folks - i could get a replacement mirror for $20). and a few weeks ago i cracked that mirror's case for good, when i bumped it against the entrance of the garage by accident.
a few years ago a neighbor accidentally backed into the driver side rear panel while backing up a trailer. he paid for the repairs under the table.
aside from my stupid little bumps, i never was in an accident with the mangemobile.
my car had less than 80,000 miles. after i quit working at the county, i only racked up enough miles going to my jobs, which were usually less than 10 miles from my house. i'd say in the past 10 years, i haven't put on more than 30,000 miles.
my car drove me all sorts of places. it knew nearly every road in my county. we used to cruise when i had a lot of time between visits. i did a lot of cruising in the southern part of the county. transferred lord knows how many foster kids and parents to visits and hearings. spent many nights on call.
my car saw me date hubby, get engaged, get married, move to norry, have 2 miscarriages, carried one noisy messy kid, and many many bags of groceries, yarn runs, target trips.
over the past few years, mangemobile's paint coat became unmanageable. we'd bought cans and samples of paint and touched up as best as we could. but the roof was starting to rust.
we hadn't planned on getting rid of the car. we really didn't have the money and planned to keep both cars as there'd be room for the boy and new baby. but when we found out we were having twins, the truth was inevitable. while hubby's car would be a tight squeeze with a boy and 2 babies, it would be nearly impossible to transport that many people plus stuff in my car.
we bought a 2008 hyundai entourage. plenty of room, easy to drive.
i traded my car for $300. i was surprised to get that much money for my car.
my last trip in the mangemobile was to knitting. before that i drove to the school to get the boy's kindergarten application. that alone made me cry. losing my faithful car made me feel bad too.
i like the new van. i sit up higher, i reach the atm easier, and i have a lot of room to spread out. but the car is also bigger, wider and i feel like i'm driving a bus. i'm paranoid i'm going to knock a mirror off or something. it's just something i'll have to get used to.
but hopefully my beloved car with have a new life. people hubby worked with were interested in buying the car (after the fact of course) only to learn that it was already spoken for. our regular mechanic called hubby to inquire as to why we sold the car - here a friend of his was interested in it! and another coworker of hubby said if he'd known we were trading the car he would have bought it for his son. i had no idear that my car would cause that much commotion! but i was praying that someone would see the beauty in my ugly mangy car, see past the peeling rusting paint and shredded seat and give my car a new life.
i like our new van, who will bring us on many adventures, including the one we'll have this summer with the twins!
but i'll never forget my little purple beretta, whose faithful service i will never forget. the mangemobile will live in my heart forever.
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