I think it is very safe to say that I do not care about “stuff”.
That is not to say that if I have nice stuff, I don’t take care of it because I do.
But, I am not a person who needs newer and bigger and better (and on the line of credit) just because “everyone else” has it.
There is no “keeping up with the Joneses” in my house!
The proof of this?
My 2008 Chevrolet Equinox that I JUST traded in this past November which made it 13 years old.
I LOVED that car – especially when I first bought it. It pulled the trailer up north several times, before Rob got his truck. It drove to Florida. It drove to many a hockey tournament with room for all of the equipment in the back. It was a great car.
Plus, we taught both kids to drive in that vehicle and it was the car they used when they needed / wanted to borrow a car and feel a little independent.
When I took Luke to Whistlebear to the practice range and we were hit by an errant shot on the way in, I was sad (poor car) but didn’t sweat it because the golf ball sized dent in the back end was a reminder of some of Luke’s golf adventures.
When Rob and Luke were taking shots on the net in the driveway and Rob thought that a slapshot TOWARDS my car was a good idea, I didn’t get angry. The puck shaped dent was always a good excuse to tease Rob and make fun of his bad aim – not that we didn’t do that before the Slap Shot Incident!
It was about at this point that Rob was telling me to start looking at new cars because mine was “an embarrassment”. I still wasn’t in a rush to get a new car. I had no car payment. There were no mechanical issues. It got me where I needed to go. It just needed some “cosmetic” stuff.
I need(ed) some cosmetic stuff done, too – thank God he wasn’t so anxious to replace ME!
When, one summer, the paint on the hood produced a bubble about the size of my fist and then popped, over the course of several weeks, to produce a rust patch, Rob almost lost his mind! Still – oh well. I joked and told him I would just fill in that patch with a black Sharpie. That made the vein in his forehead protrude!
The last full winter that I had my car, I didn’t complain when the heaters only worked intermittently and I had to scrape the outside AND the inside of the windows before leaving for work in the morning. I considered myself lucky! How many cars had separate interior and exterior scrapers!?
At this point, it was really just seeing how long we could go without HAVING to replace and how CRAZY it would drive Rob to keep it!
The straw that broke the camel’s back (and possibly the deer’s) happened last June. Luke and a bunch of buddies were helping one of their grandpa’s on his farm in Plattsville. Luke was driving home in the dark and hit a deer with my SUV.
Poor kid. When he came in he was very shaken up. In the end, it wasn’t a big deal. No one was hurt – quite possibly not even the deer because Luke said it did not stay on the side of the road – and he made it home safely. A car is a thing that can be replaced.
I hated to admit it but maybe its time had come.
Did I really need a new car?
I did. BUT because we were dealing with a ton of other stuff last summer, researching, test driving and buying a new car was still not on the top of my To Do List! However, I did live in fear of getting pulled over for the broken headlight for 5 months until I finally caved and picked up my new car!
I had a whole speech planned.
Yes, officer. I know that I am missing a headlight. My son was in an accident last night and hit a deer. I am on my way to the body shop now to have it repaired.
Thankfully, I never had to test it out because I never got pulled over.
And, despite the fact that Rob practically offered to pay Mazda extra if they would let us leave the Equinox there when I picked up my Mazda 3, they did give me money for a trade in! (We went out for dinner with it on the way home!)
And I do love my new car! I wish Rob was here. I would tell him we should never have waited so long!
No I wouldn’t!
Lesson learned? Beauty really is only skin deep!
Life with Clark and Coco 