Every person comes to a moment in their lifetime when they realize that they have to let go of certain things in order to move onto the next chapter.
Especially when that next chapter is having kids.
Kids are amazing, but sadly, parents have to give up A LOT in order to give their children the life that they need and deserve in order to grow up to be healthy and happy. For example, you can no longer live on pizza and chinese take-out when you have children. You actually have to feed them HEALTHY foods. And let me tell ya folks...it's a royal pain in the ASS!! If I could only tell you how many times I have cursed while chopping cucumber and celery slices for my kid's school snacks at 11pm at night. Grrrrrr >:(
Anyway, I know that there are tons of parents out there who have had to sacrifice their own little luxuries in order to provide for their children.
For some dads, it's giving up on those week long fishing trips with the boys.
For some moms, it's saying good-bye to those monthly spa days.
For me, it was having to sell my sportscar. My beautiful little navy blue Hyundai Tiburon..... which I was absolutely in love with.
Sigh......
That car was the BEST.
It could take you from 0 to 60 in like.............well.......I'm not quite sure?? I'm not good at that car stuff.
But it was cute and FAST!
I'll never forget the day I sold my little rocket racer.
I hated having to let her go. But it was time for me to move on.....and get a new car that would fit a baby car seat, a stroller, and my new life.
I knew, at that moment, that I would NEVER love a car as much as my Tiburon. And I balled my eyes out as we drove away from her .....
Fast forward to 2 weeks later, and I was in Cambridge picking up our brand new van.
BARF!
She was navy blue as well (my go-to colour for cars), but she was not little and sleek :( She was big. And boxy. And boring.
And Leo does NOT do boring.
And I'll never forget my drive home in that thing .......3 hours.....with a screaming baby Lola in the back seat.....the entire way home.
I already hated my new van.
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But something funny had happened.
Over the next few years, I kind of developed an interesting relationship with my Dodge Caravan.
She sort of became a really solid friend to me?
She was always there for me. She never broke down, she could fit like A LOT of gas in her (that's the technical measurement used by car manufacturers by the way), she could fit ANY new purchase that I made at IKEA (great success!), she played movies for the kids, she could download any song from one of those computer stick-thingy's (another technical term), and she could open and close doors with just the push of a button.
Not only that, but Nemo (yes...the kids and I had named her), became the go-to vehicle for all of our family and friends road trips. 2-hour treks to the cottage, 6-hour drives to Montreal, and endless commutes to the city and back were all courtesy of my new 4-wheeled friend. Not to mention, Nemo was the limo, and a HUGE part of my EPIC divorce party weekend with my girlfriends in Niagara Falls.
Very often she was littered with Timbits, Bruce Lee's fur, DVD's, Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, red lipsticks, kid's toys and Guns N Roses CD's.....but she NEVER once complained. In fact, I think she secretly loved how much time we spent with her.
And she didn't even cry when I held Molly's car seat against her side with my knee and accidentally scratched the whole passenger door. Oops!
Anyway, she was a really good girl.
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But once again, it was time for that next chapter in my life.
Lola and Molly were now well past the toddler stage....and I had out-grown the phase of my life which included baby car-seats, strollers and packable playpens. And THANK GOD for that! I no longer needed a giant 7-seater vehicle.
And as my van approached it's 7th year of life, she had started to show her age, and major signs of wear and tear.
At first I refused to acknowledge the signs. The shaking on the highway, the vibration of the steering wheel, and the check-engine light that just refused to go away.
These were all normal little glitches, weren't they? She'd be fine!!
Not even the torn off front plastic bumper which had wedged itself under my van and prevented me from driving any further......which forced me to pull-over and yank that thing out from under my car could make me think of getting rid of her.
In my eyes, she was still perfect.
But it wasn't until my buddy, who borrowed my van one weekend, very aggressively said once he dropped her off, "Leo! Get rid of this thing! You shouldn't be driving it!! This van is not safe! I'm pretty sure a wheel is about ready to fly off"
I whispered under my breath angrily, "maybe YOUR wheel is about to fly off....."
But he was right.
I needed to move on.
It was time.
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I did LOTS of research looking for my next new vehicle. And by lots of research, I mean I played on car websites "building a new car" and determining what looks I was going for. Exterior vs. interior colours, interior cloth vs. leather, sunroof vs. no sunroof and tinted vs. non-tinted windows. These were all SUPER CRUCIAL deciding factors.
Some of the cars were too big.
Others were too small.
But the Mazda 3 was JUUUUUSSSSSTTT RIGHT :)
My test drive was ridiculous as the sales guy decided it would be fun to take me for a spin and give me a heart-attack while making a complete right turn at 70 kms/hour.
I was SOLD!
And it was that next chapter in my life, where I was ready to own a cute little fast car again.
"Ok. We're almost finished completing the order here....." said the sales guy, as I excitedly tapped my fingers on the desk and shook my right foot, "OK! Last question. What colour??" he asked finally.
I already knew I was going to pick navy blue. I ALWAYS picked navy blue. It was the perfect car colour. Dark...and sexy.
But when I opened my mouth, I yelled "RED!!"
The sales guy looked and me and said "OK! Red it is!"
CLICK.
Well. THAT was unexpected!
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As we went out to the van, one last time, the sales guy went on and on as to how I made the best decision and how amazing Mazda is, and how my van was literally about to fall apart, when suddenly........I felt it coming.
Oh no.
The tears!!
My throat suddenly closed up with a huge lump, and I felt my eyes welling up.
He looked back at me and knew right away.
I needed to be alone with Nemo.
The sales guy nervously said, "Umm. I've just gotta run inside for a second. I'll be right back!" And he ran away as fast as any guy could run away from a girl who was about to cry.
And as soon as we were alone, I burst out crying.
"NEMO!! I love you sooooooo much! (wahhhh!!) I'm SO sorry I have to say good-bye!! You have been (sniff), one of the BESTEST friends I could ever have!!! Thank you for EVERYTHING you have done for me. (wahhhh!!!!) I will NEVER forget you!!! And I hope that the next people who own you are amazing and sweet and they love you as much as I do! Or I hope you don't get shipped to Africa or something?? But if you do, I hope you get to see elephants and giraffes....because that's something I always wanted to see (WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!). Anyway Nemo, I love you. The girls loved you. Thank you!!"
And with that, I hugged my van, and said good-bye.
In plain daylight. Where everyone could see. In the middle of the Mazda parking lot.
And I knew in that moment, that I would NEVER love another car as much as I loved my van.
I mean.....how could I???
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Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you the newest member of our family.
Little Miss....RUBY RED.
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