Ridin' along in my automobile

Goodbye, sad silver car. Helloooooo.......bright, shiny red Volkswagen Cabriolet!

This past week was quite an eventful one -- and a bit sad in many ways. My car, which I blogged about earlier as having been in and out of the shop, entered the shop for its last time. The head gasket on the engine is having problems, which essentially means that coolant is leaking into the engine and destroying it. I can't even drive my car 15 minutes without it overheating, and now this worthless piece of metal is just sitting in front of my apartment.

It's sad, really. I have not even had that car for 2 years, and I had a lot of good memories in it -- driving around Salt Lake City when I lived completely on my own for the first time, taking college roommates grocery shopping, driving to Montana and Yellowstone with my family. It was perfect for me -- and after all the money I put into it, it can't even drive me safely to work.

Enter my NEW CAR - a 2001 VW Cabriolet!

When I was 16 and wanted to buy my first car, all I could dream about was a Volkswagen Cabriolet. It was small, it was cute -- and it was also usually a stick-shift (which I couldn't drive) and "driven hard and put away wet," as my dad puts it. We looked all over East Idaho for a Cabriolet I would look cute in, putting the top down and showing off my bald head (you can't always have hair to whip around your face, you know), and we settled for my white Chrysler LeBaron convertible instead.

Now, nearly seven years later, I am the proud owner of a cute new car that even chirps at me when I lock it and flashes its lights. I hop in it and instantly feel happier. It's got a killer stereo that lets me crank my Weezer up, heated leather seats and a gas gauge that works. It's even my favorite color!

I guess sometimes we don't get what we want. I never wanted a car that would overheat and cop out at only 125,000 miles. I never wanted to go car shopping in a rush because my car was completely worthless. And I never wanted to have to do safety and emissions tests and find a new car insurance company because I no longer live in Idaho. But life doesn't give us a choice.

The door is shut on another car and on another part of my life -- I will officially surrender my Idaho plates tomorrow, and I feel like part of my identity is going with them (I know it's ridiculous and dramatic, but I do). But there's always a window open -- and right now, it's the window on my lovely little car.