The End of An Era.

Last week marked the end of an era, but no, that era was not the end of my blog. It may seem that way from the past two years' lack of consistent writing. Previous to that, I was blogging every single week. But when we started homeschooling and I started serving in a busier role at church, blogging went out the window. That stops now. I am going to keep blogging. Yes, blogs are totally out of fashion now. But so am I. We're a perfect match of skinny jeans and blousy tops. I'm having a hard time jumping on the 90s fashion train.

The actual era to which I was referring was the death of Dan's 2000 Toyota Camry. Yes, you read that right. The year 2000. Things have been breaking on this car for years, and we would just power through it. The sweet nothings that my husband would whisper to me on my way to drive his car evolved to a shout of, "If the car won't start, jiggle the battery wires!" The following things were broken on the car:

Cracked windshield

Bad battery connectors 

Broken inside door handle on the driver side

Broken outside door handle on the passenger side

Cracked muffler that needed to be welded back together. This made the car sound SO LOUD. It was not-so-affectionately-known by our friends and neighbors as "The Hot Rod" because it would wake up the whole hood when Dan left in the morning.

Dan has been saying forever that we need to get a different car, but then car prices went up, and we decided to wait. 

I took a meal to someone on Christmas Eve in sub-zero temperatures. Somehow I was able to get into the car (that outside driver's side door handle was still okay), but when I arrived to the lady's house, I couldn't get out of the car. I went to roll down the window to open the handle from the outside (which I was so used to at that point and never thought about the absurdity anymore), but the window was frozen shut. So I climbed over to the passenger side to open that working handle, but the door was frozen shut.

Would this frozen 23-year old car parked in a dark, random parking lot on Christmas Eve be my demise? I had endured too much to go in such a way. Plus, I had 41 people back at my house waiting for me to come back before the kids would start the Nativity puppet show at the Christmas Eve party I was hosting. I had to bust out of the Hot Rod. 

I kicked and kicked until I got a door open. I delivered the dinner. I made it back home.

Soon thereafter, Dan received notice from a police officer that his car needed to go through inspection. We knew it would not pass and also didn't want to put a lot of money into fixing this car. It was time.

The day Dan went to a dealership to inquire after a car, the Hot Rod died in the middle of the road, only two blocks from our house. It was the alternator. Dan was proud that we had always said that we would drive it until it was dead, and then it died on the way to get a new car.

Oh did I mention that the hubcaps had fallen off? We are a classy bunch!

Dan got a new (not new, but Jolley-new) car. The Hot Rod was still eligible for a 2k trade-in despite its deadness because used cars are in such demand. It was a good day.

Let's not forget the many important events that happened in that car. Harris was almost born in that car. The Hot Rod took Dan took Dan to three different jobs in three different states--Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Dan drove that car back and forth to Gainesville for his MBA. Thank you, Hot Rod, for transporting us and keeping us humble at the same time. I wish we still had it!! I honestly didn't care that it wasn't nice. Not-nice cars are kinda my jam.

Now, we just wait for the new car to be christened by vomit from one of the kids. Then it will really feel like our car.

The End.