There she was. A shiny, silver Mitsubishi Lancer with OZ Rally wheels and a sun roof. I named her Britney, of course, after Britney Spears. And although she wasn’t the bubbly royal blue Ford Focus that I had taped above my desktop computer, she was a catch. (Plus zero payments for a year, which that single college girl really appreciated.) At the time, I couldn’t have imagined that that silver bullet would carry me across the country with my new husband…and one day carry home our newborn baby girl.
There’s something special about that first car when you become a family. The memories you make, the songs you sing, the long drives around the neighborhood, and those million glances in the rearview mirror. You’ll never forget that first car and the precious cargo it held.
And then came car number two… when you realized a sporty backseat just wasn’t quite big enough for your toddler, your big ol’ booty, and a new baby car seat. Car number two was filled with giggles and goldfish. Where you had built-in entertainment, an extra pair of hands to grab the dropped paci, and conversations that were full of imagination as you commuted from parks and parties to pediatricians and preschool.
Then you blinked and they were both in booster seats.
Car number three was quite possibly your favorite yet, a masterpiece of spilled chocolate milk stains and gooey ice cream fingerprints, stickers of unicorns and dinosaurs leaving their mark long after you tried to scrape them off. Car number three carried rapidly growing little people through windy mountain roads, long sports weekends, and trails of Christmas lights. It logged hours in the car line, parked along the river on hot summer days, and carried bundles of balloons year after year after year. This car was the stuff of legends.
Until one day you needed more.
Something to hold more bags, and more friends, and more memories. So you traded it in and waved goodbye to those paint-stained seats still harboring stale french fries, and you slipped into something a little cooler. A little roomier. And a little more prepared for the long days and very very short years that remain.
But if any car can carry you safely through the future of pep rallies, first jobs, and prom pictures…it’s gonna be this one.
