End of an era

I am calling this blog an end of an era today because something sentimental occurred yesterday. I bought my first car in January of 1999. I was so proud of my choice. My dad was impressed that I had picked it out on my own. I was determined to drive that car until the wheels fell off of it. It was a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am. The color was my favorite. I called it metallic green. I refinanced on it at one point when I needed cheaper payments but finally paid it off in 2006. Two weeks after paying it off I was in an accident and had to have about $3,000 worth of repairs done on it, but I still continued to drive it. Last fall my sister was having financial problems due to her lazy-ass husband. He got laid off and when he discovered that he wasn't going back anytime soon, he was reluctant to look for work. That is partly why they are separated now. To make matters worse my sister had to have major surgery and was off work for 6 weeks. I think you can figure out what happened. She lost her car. So being the big sister I looked over my finances and decided that I could afford a new car payment and I had saved enough for a nice downpayment that I would not have to use my car as a trade in. So I did research on the internet and found a nice Chevy Blazer in my price range. I purchased it in September and gave my sister my Grand Am. My dad had been thinking of something to do and was shocked when I got the new vehicle. This is one of the perks of being a teacher. I have my summers free and if I want to work a second job I can. So my sister began driving the car. I new it needed some work but we were hoping to get her through at least a year until her bankruptcy cleared. This was not going to be the case. Yesterday, she traveled down her in my Grand Am but returned to Fremont in her own new vehicle. We went back to the dealer I had gone through. They gave me $300 for my car which is more than I expected. Laura put as much as she could and I added a little. Now she and my nephew will be much safer on the rode. She drove off the lot with a 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix. It is very nice. We took it out for a test drive and stopped at a gas station to look under the hood. We had just a smidge of trouble finding the release for the hood but finally got it up. The engine was in pristine condition. As we were trying to put the hood back down some guy hollers over asking if we need help. He comes over and says, "You've got dealer plates on it and you already broke it?" We respond back that we were just looking under the hood. He says, "Well, What are you looking for?" Laura says, "I'm looking to buy it and we want to check the condition?" He asks again "Like what". As if we don't know anything about cars. I shot back," Gee let's see, the condition of the hoses, fraying on the belts, build up on the connectors for the battery." Laura pitches in with "Just because we are female doesn't mean we don't know anything about cars." He threw his hands up and began to walk off. By this point we had the hood down and were getting back in the car and I decided to add "Just because the hairs blonde doesn't mean the brain doesn't work." The man had the nerve to flip me off. I don't think Laura saw it but I did. We enjoyed a nice laugh over this the rest of the evening. As I was signing over my first car I was a little sad. Laura was joking with me saying you're not going to cry are you? Like I said earlier, it holds a lot of sentimental memories. Like my nephew's first vacation. My sister and I drove to Tennessee with him right after he turned 1. He is going to be 5 in a few weeks. Then there are all the small trips she and I took over the years. Am I being over emotional? I mean it was the first thing that I ever bought and paid for completely on my own. I should have the right to be a little sad. No one will probably ever drive that car again. It is probably going to end up a peice of twisted metal. But it was my car and it served my family well. Like I said, it's an end of an era for me.