I miss my bug

With much sadness, I got rid of my car. It just wasn't big enough for us anymore and we were $9,000.00 upside down on it after three years. (yes, folks that is not a typo, I said nine thousand dollars) Remember we were such savvy shoppers we haggled for the fake flower in the vase when we purchased it originally. Yes, we paid sticker. Stupid, I know and now we are paying for it, literally. But you have to understand, it was my dream car. I had always wanted a VW bug. When I was 15 and my family asked me what car I wanted, I asked for one and my mother wouldn't hear of it. She tried to tell me that the last one was made when I was still a toddler and told me to ask for something else instead. Being 15 and thinking I knew everything and was smarter than everyone else (as many 15 year olds do), I thought I would ask for something so outrageous and expensive that getting me a 15 year old vw bug wouldn't sound so bad in comparison. Wrong, they got me a brand new made to order fire engine red mustang complete with t-tops and all the extras. Don't get me wrong, I loved that car. I drove it ten years till a drunk driver plowed into me and killed it. I was so despondent about it that I refused to get another car for 4 years. This is possible when you have friends and family that will take you shopping and live in a city with a great transit system. (Anchorage isn't one of those places). So they re released the vw bugs and they marked them way up because everyone wanted one. I got on wait list after wait list for one. Finally when I was 4 months pregnant, a dealer called, they had one in the color that I wanted and it was the top of the line model. My poor husband would have agreed to anything at that point as he was so thrilled that we were about to have a baby, (I missed my chance at getting that pony I always wanted....hum maybe if we decide to have another child I'll know to ask for it this time, Ha Ha!) It was probably the easiest sale that salesman had ever had. "Here it is." "We'll take it. Can we have the flower in the vase too?" Yes, that is pretty much how it went. Granted it had all of the available options on it too, including heated leather seats, I am really going to miss those! It was really good on the snow and ice too. But now with the recent economy changes, it had depreciated like a lead brick dropped of a tall building. We couldn't get a dealer to take it as a trade to save our lives. We couldn't sell it privately for anything near what we owed on it. So with a heavy heart, we turned it in. This will hurt our credit no doubt but we couldn't afford it anymore ( the payment was over $500 a month) and we certainly couldn't afford it AND another car payment.
I have to remind myself that there were things about the bug that were bad; Lilith had to have the passenger seat all the way forward in order to be able to have room for her legs. This was getting very uncomfortable for me. People would laugh at us when we would shop at Costco. Seriously. We had to pack groceries all around Lilith's seat and I usually had to ride home with something on my legs and at my feet (one positive about this, It kept my shopping sort of in check as I knew there was only so much we could fit in the bug) It was very low profile with low profile sport wheels so when big trucks and SUVs would be changing lanes or driving carelessly, they often wouldn't see me. I was always afraid that they were going to squish me, like well a bug. Since I had it decorated with Hello Kitty and it was such a cutsy car even before I did that to it, my husband would sometimes get laughs and stares when he drove it around the macho town of Anchorage.
Now, I am an official mini van driving mom. How the heck did I go from driving Anna's mustang to driving a mini van?
At least it is a 4 wheel drive mini van. I cannot lie, it feels like taking my living room for a spin compared to driving the bug. I miss the bugs zippiness. It takes me forever to park it. Last night I was sitting at a red light next to a city bus and realized I was on the same level as the people riding the bus?! Lilith has tons of room now. She can actually see out and we have her seat in the center of the first bench seat so it is easy to reach her and talk to her. This was very hard in the bug.
It is still very hard to say good bye to the first car you took your baby home from the hospital in, that took you to New Mexico one Thanksgiving, and drove your whole family, including three cats from Colorado to Alaska. I hope one day I will find another car that I loved as much as my mustang and my bug but I guess I should be happy that I got to have two of my dream cars, many people don't get to experience that even once so I should be grateful. This new mini van isn't so bad, it just isn't something that I ever thought I would own or drive. I am glad we have it and it is the right car for us at this time. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances.