Our new car

My convertible has been with me since 1998, about 11 years. We’ve been through a lot together from my college days (don’t know how that thing made it through those days), to my dating days with Mark in which I had some embarrassing moments including when driving with him and having my laundry in the back of the car with my tiger-printed underwear (which he now really loves). And of course with Tyler and Peyton, many fun memories as they loved having the top down. My convertible has been in many parades. It’s had a run on with a deer in which it caused the horn to start blowing and I couldn’t turn it off….pretty embarrassing. I’ve had some pretty good memories with that thing.

Tyler has told me many times that I can never sell that car and I assured him I wouldn’t unless that thing gave out on me. I loved having a convertible.

So, you can imagine the pain when the car would start overheating just driving a couple miles. We found out there was a leak and it would cost a few hundred dollars to fix it. Plus, the air-conditioning was broke and that would be about $500. The car was worth about $1000. So, it was a no-brainer that we needed to get a new one rather than fix it up and a “reliable” used car was almost as much as a new car and with the new car, we could get 5 years of 0% financing. So, really a no-brainer when you think about it.

But, I was scared. Not so much about getting a new car….but the wrath of Tyler Matthew Park. I asked his mom to tell him but she was not going to go there. If I was going to break his poor, little heart, I had to do it.

Crap.

I put it off as long as I could. It was a Thursday afternoon that we had to go pick up our new car and I had to pick up Tyler from school with Mark. I begged Mark to break the news to Tyler. Of course Mark said there was no way he was going to break the little guy’s heart. Thanks for the support, honey.

So we pick up Tyler from school and he asks what we’re going to do this afternoon.

I said “Well, I think we’ll get a new car”

Tyler said, “A new car? You’re not going to get rid of the convertible, are you?”

After a little pause, I said “Well, yeah, Tyler, we kind of have to”.

Tyler’s chin starts quivering.

I looked at Tyler and said “Oh, please, honey, don’t do that. I’m sorry, but the convertible is broken and we can’t fix it.”

Tyler’s eyes start filling up.

“Oh, Tyler, I’m so very sorry. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have to. Isn’t that right, Mark?”

Mark said “Well, yeah. We would keep it if we could.”

Tyler said in between his chin quivering and trying not to cry “But I like the car. You can’t get rid of it.”

I said after a little silence “Well, I did make cookies. They’re at home and you can have one, or maybe two.”

Tyler’s eyes go wide and suddenly he seems to forget about the car “Really! Are they really big cookies?”

Whew…..”Yes, they are big!”

It’s funny what a couple big cookies can do.

Here is my convertible with Tyler:




Here is our new car, a 2009 Chevy Aveo: