At one point my long term goal was to drive a Mercedes Benz. Before
I was married, around the age of 17 or 18 I decided the standard I would judge
personal success would be based on the vehicle I were to be driving at the
time. And the day I drove my brand new Mercedes Benz off the lot would be the
day I knew I had made it. Naïve thinking…I know this now! But at the time I
specifically remember saying out loud, “I will
drive a Mercedes when I grow up.”
As many of you know I quit my job toward the end of last summer
to homeschool our youngest 2 kiddos. Unsurprisingly, this decision involved a cut
in our household income. A small cut, but a cut nonetheless. My paychecks had
been plenty for me to make my monthly car payment and have some leftover (allocated
for fashion necessities). We knew we needed to make some changes. In the months
following the selling of my business we had developed a plan. The biggest part
of the plan included my vehicle situation which is actually quite complicated.
My 83-year-old grandmother hasn’t driven in a few years due
to her health. She had a barely used Chevy Impala doing nothing more than
taking up space in her garage. She and my dad were gracious enough to let me
use the car for a while. Even better, after figuring out how to make it fair
between my brother and me (her only 2 grandchildren) they decided to give me the car! What a blessing!!!
That’s not the end of the story though. Quitting my job would
also free up more time for me to pitch in feeding and haying our personal
cattle throughout the winter and as wonderful as the Impala is, it just isn’t
cut out for feeding and haying. Another problem was that our driveway is on
quite the incline. On a good sunny day the Impala can handle it just fine, but
after a decent rain a truck with 4 wheel drive is about the best bet.
So, I needed a feed truck. And that is something I NEVER EVER
thought I would EVER say. I mean, what self-respecting city girl needs a feed truck? Things change when “the two
become one” if ya get my drift.
Justin scoured the internet looking for an old 4 wheel drive heavy
duty pickup truck for me to have on hand for feeding, haying and rainy days. One
cheap enough that we could pay cash for. And what-do-ya-know he found one on
RanchWorldAds.com. We drove a couple of hours away, test drove the truck, and I
got to drive my new rig home that day. Little did I know that it was far from
being complete. Over the following weeks and months Ole Jus really fixed ‘er up
for me. I’m now rocking a new flat bed, a feeder (that I did get to choose the
color of…white or black) and a hay spear built by Ole Jus himself.
In our married life I have gone through many vehicles. I
started with a black 2002 Chevy Impala that my parents bought me after high
school graduation. Leather seats, wood grain accents, tinted windows, and shiny
wheels. My 19 year old self loved that car. After we had Lil Zane in 2004 we
purchased my first Suburban. It was barely used and I was thrilled. A few years
later we traded on almost the exact suburban but newer model when those same
owners traded in their latest vehicle. Then, the day I walked across the stage
at my college graduation (after 7 years under my belt) I went to leave, and
noticed that my suburban I parked in the lot that morning had been moved and
replaced by a BRAND SPANKIN NEW 2009 Chevrolet suburban. Special thanks to Ole
Jus and my parents for pulling that off. That car looked good on me! After
sharing some great memories with that black suburban, we decided to downsize
hoping for better gas mileage. I traded my beloved vehicle for a smaller SUV,
the GMC Acadia. It was the Acadia that we just sold a few months ago.
So now if you’re looking for me around town you’ll need to look
for one of two options. My grandma’s car, which in fact looks like... a grandma
car. It’s a champagne colored 2004 Impala without
tinted windows. When I picked it up last
fall the odometer read 27,000 miles. WOW! It takes me about a year to rack up
27,000 miles on a vehicle and it took my grandmother a whole decade. Most
ironically, it’s almost the same car I was driving when we first got married.
The truck I’m driving is a little more conspicuous. It’s a black 2003 Chevrolet
half ton with a grill guard, flat bed, feeder and hay spear as accessories to
the gem. Just look for the truck that would be the least likely candidate for a
30-year-old non-pioneer homeschooling mother of 4 to drive…and that’ll be me.
In case you skipped the entire blog post until this point…I
am not currently driving a Mercedes…not anywhere close. In a few short years I learned
that brand new cars, or any car for that matter, aren’t the measure of a man…or
woman…or city girl. And while so many of my dear friends and acquaintances are
getting those really incredible looking Infiniti SUV’s (no offense if that’s you),
I’m driving sacrifice. I hope and pray I’m sure there will be a time
when I beef it up again and drive a car that makes me feel great and look
fabulous (probably never a Mercedes), but for now I’m feeling good with where I
am today…FROM THIS SIDE OF THIRTY.
Labels: Life
