When I was younger, I received cash from every relative I had. Every birthday, every Christmas brought a check. As a child, you do not appreciate the value of this, especially when your mom forces you to put each dollar of it into savings. And having to find a creative way to write "Thank you for the money, I put it into my savings account" on every thank you note you send for 2 decades was tiresome.
How could I know that when I entered my 20's a healthy savings account would come to mean so much! I paid college tuition, I paid rent, I planned the wedding I wanted, I even bought a brand new car. I have grandparents and great aunts to now thank for these HUGE gifts!
I clearly remember the day, my senior year at Calvin, when I wrote the biggest check of my life and drove home in a sparkly new Saturn. It even had a keychain that automatically unlocked the doors and an alarm system! It was probably my most exciting purchase ever.
We have gotten every penny's worth out of that now-12-year-old Saturn-- starting in college when it made the tri-state journey every other weekend to see my fiance in Chicago! It moved us to Ohio and Indiana and back to Michigan. It took us to vacation in places like Niagra Falls and Washington DC. It saw each of the 7 states between Michigan and California. It has been on countless adventures and has literally made some amazing journeys.
I'm not sad to say goodbye. The car is old, requires more work than we can afford and barely meets our needs anymore. But I have loved my car from the day I saw it in the showroom with the "This Saturn is for Jennifer" sign next to it and thank it for the coast to coast ride and miles of life it gave us!
No comments:
Post a Comment