After I graduated high school my Daddy bought me a brand new 1999 Honda Civic.

It was a great car.

August 29th I said goodbye to that car after 13 good years of use.

The car was nearing the end of it’s reliability and Dave wanted to sell it while we could still get a little something for it to be able to put towards a “new” car for him.

And…let’s face it. Dave was ready to drive a “fun” car.

After looking around, he found his fun car and last Wednesday while the girls were napping he was test driving the car and ended up driving all the way home to show me the car.

Later that day he called and said he was going to be able to get the car for the price we had talked about so he was going to go ahead and settle the deal that day.

I said, “Wait! You are going to sell my Civic TODAY?!”

When he said, yes, I said, “You HAVE to bring it home one more time so I can say goodbye!!!”

He did.

I took it for one more little drive around our neighborhood and…I’m ashamed to say…started crying!!!

It wasn’t necessarily the box of metal (because that is all a car is) that made me cry, it was thinking about all the life I had done while driving that car!

I drove that car back and forth to college for four years.

I remember enjoying when it was cooler weather in the fall and spring and going to my car in between classes if there was time, rolling down the windows and praying, studying or sometimes I’d even just sit there and read until it was time for the next class. I remember those quiet moments before God while sitting in that car like it was yesterday.

I drove that car to my internship at the elementary school and then I drove that car to my college graduation in August of 2003.

I drove that car to my job as a 4th grade teacher for four years. There was even a season of time when I would drop my dad off at his work on my way to my job. Some of my students knew Miss A drove the little white car.

Dave and I drove away from the church on our wedding day in that car! Dave could hardly see to drive because of all the balloons and decorations on the car, so we had to stop and pull over to clean it off before we headed on our way.

We drove that car to the mountains for our honeymoon.

I drove that car to every one of my infertility doctor appointments.

I can remember sitting in that car with Dave before appointments and praying with him before we would go in to see Dr. L.

I remember crying buckets of tears in the passenger seat of that car after learning our final IUI had not resulted in a pregnancy.

That was the car I drove on April 9th, 2009, when I went to the adoption agency to drop off our paperwork and then left in a daze after hearing we could be parents in just two months!

It was from that car that I sent the text to Dave which said: Do you want to be a Daddy in JUNE?! And, yes, I do think I was driving when I sent that one. I clearly was not thinking straight.

On June 3rd, 2009, Dave drove that car and I rode in the backseat with our tiny five pound 7-day-old daughter as we brought Little Bug home from the hospital.

And on August 11th, 2009, I sat in the same spot again with another little buddle of joy in the backseat as we made the 1.5 hour trip home with our newest daughter, Sweet Pea.

When I was given that car at 18 years old I was already dreaming of the day the backseat would be filled with babies.

I drove that car full of babies in the backseat for about two months before we bought Dave’s mom’s car and I passed my little Civic on to Dave with strict instructions to take care of my car.

(I am very grateful I only drove my little Civic for two months with both girls. It was a tad bit cramped in there with a toddler and a newborn and all their stuff!)

155,600 miles of life were lived while driving this car.

Dave took Little Bug to preschool in the “new” car. She thought that was pretty cool.

We keep cars for a long time.

Dave has said this one will last us for a good 10-15 years. That’s a lot more life to be lived…driving the same car through it all!

- Elaine