Farewell to My Faithful Steed

Although I was not thrilled about purchasing a minivan 11.5 years ago when I was very pregnant with Ella, I grew to love this car.  It quickly became my faithful steed that got my growing gaggle of children and me from Point A to Point B on a daily basis.  I loved the extra room that came with the third row and the massive trunk in the back.  It was the perfect car for carpooling my children and other people's children around to school, sports, activities, and fun adventures.  It took us to Priest Lake every August and on any other road trips that we went on without Ron.  It was such an affordable car (only $18,000 brand new) and barely gave me any problems over the past 11.5 years that I drove it. I really grew to love my van and planned on keeping it until Lia was out of the house and when I was ready to downsize to a brand new, smaller car that would hopefully get me through the next decade of my life as my children continued to fly the nest.

However, this past fall, it began to chug and lurch when I would break and decelerate from a high speed to a low speed, especially when coming off of freeways.  After doing this several times in the fall, it actually started to turn off sometimes when I came to a complete stop in the winter.  I took it to a mechanic in my town in February and one in my parent's town in April.  Both mechanics were unable to find anything wrong with it.  After being hit the end of April, Ron drove me to the doctor's office the very next day in my car on April 30th.  On the drive home from Tacoma, it began to chug and lurch when it was accelerating, especially when the engine was under 2,000 RPMs.  This problem became much more significant than the decelerating problem and would happen multiple times every single time I drove it in May.  Ron and I quickly realized that we needed to trade in this car for a new one before it completely died.

So after much research for a new car on Ron's part and a test drive at a dealership in Puyallup, we drove up to Seattle today to purchase a new Chevrolet Equinox.  Although I was not ready to downsize from a minivan, we just didn't want to pay the extra 20K for a new van when I wouldn't really need one in a few years.  So, we made the decision to buy the largest, crossover car on the market that is American made.  After almost five hours at the dealership, we traded in my old van and drove away in my shiny, new car, complete with all of the technological bells and whistles that I have never had before.  I must admit, it was really sad to say goodbye to my trusty companion.  I honestly feel like we have been through so much together, especially during the most busy and crazy years of my mothering career.  When I was quietly was saying goodbye to my van in the car dealership parking lot, I whispered, "I'll see you in car heaven one day."  I know that feeling this way is so silly, but I honestly have been so grateful for what a wonderful and reliable car that it has been to me and I almost felt like I was betraying my van by trading it in before I had always planned on.  Regardless, it had to be done, and so it is time to turn the page and start another chapter driving another car around town for the next several years of my mothering career.

My trusty minivan in our driveway before driving it away one last time.

While Lia was still sleeping, the three younger children piled in the car one final time this morning for a picture.

A final picture (with Emmett's sad face) in front of the van.

My shiny and new Equinox parked in our driveway after bringing it home on Saturday afternoon.  Ella named it Ivy Eugene due to it's light green color and the name of the salesman who sold it to us.