The End of an Era

I'm not really sentimental about cars. I've had four cars so far in my driving life. Two in high school, one in college and one post college. That post-college car lasted 12.5 years! Yesterday, the college car and I parted ways, and I've found much to reflect upon. In December 2003, my shiny new silver 2-door Civic coupe and I began our relationship. It wasn't my first new car, but it was my first new, nice car that I purchased mostly on my own...in my name, my sole responsibility. I was fresh out of college, ready to start a career (not that I knew what that career would be), and all done babysitting, so I intentionally wanted a 2 door car because I didn't want carseats in my backseat.

I never dreamed at the time that this car would be with me for 12.5 years and 160,000 miles AND still be a great car. And, oh my, how life has changed in 12.5 years!

In December 2013---

• I was still dating my college boyfriend (for 4 more months).
• All my grandparents were still alive. I have since lost 3 of the 4 (March 2004, January 2006 and December 2011).
• I lived in Austin, but moved back in with my parents shortly after I bought my car to be closer to that college boyfriend. 

Since December 2013--

• That college boyfriend and I broke up.
• I moved back to Austin after 5 months of living at home to work summer camp in 2004...and figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
• I started going to Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, and met Nicholas.
• I was baptized. 
• My car made many trips to Wimberly where Nicholas was living while we were dating.
• My car and I taught Nicholas how to drive a standard.
• In the summer of 2005, my niece left green crayon in the backseat that melted in the Texas sun on the black seats. To this day, there is still a little green residue. 
• Nicholas and I got married.
• We moved to Rhode Island. Nicholas' mom and best friend drove my Civic to RI a few weeks after we were married...because Nicholas flew back to Austin for our wedding after grad school had already started.
• My Civic was our "family" car and traveled all over New England--Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. 
• In the summer of 2008, the Civic vacationed us to Cape Cod, and shuttled John Turman to Tanglewood in Lexington, MA. 
• In the summer of 2009, the Civic vacationed us to New Hampshire, Boston, Tanglewood and various parts of Rhode Island before being packed up for our move back to Texas. The Civic was packed to the hilt as we took a two week road trip down the East Coast en route back to Texas with stops in Delaware, Williamsburg, VA, Charlotte, NC, Columbia, SC, Athens, GA, Birmingham, AL and finally Rowlett, TX before officially moving back to Austin.
• Feb 2011 brought our bouncy Big Bro, and the Civic got fitted with a carseat!
• We continued to use the Civic for awhile to travel a little bit back and forth between Dallas and Austin.
• Then May 2014 we added Lil' Bro to our family, and I squeezed 2 carseats into the backseat of the Civic. It was tight, but doable with the infant carseat and Big Bro being able to get in and out of his carseat all by himself.
• Daddy and Big Bro took a road trip to Santa Fe in December 2014 for the Civic's last big trip. 
• In March 2015 we moved into a new house with an even greater inclined driveway than our previous house. It was pretty hard to get the boys in and out of my car...especially once Lil' Bro upgraded to the convertible carseat and Mommy became pregnant!
• It is literally impossible to fit 3 carseats in the backseat of the Civic, so we knew we would need a new car before baby #3 arrived...but we put it off as long as possible because we haven't had a car payment in 6 or 7 years!

After as much shopping around as we could handle with 2 energetic boys and a very pregnant Mommy, we are now new car owners with plenty of room to tote our growing family! Introducing our used, but mostly new 2016 Honda Odyssey.