Goodbye Old Friend

It's silly of me really.  But I can't lie - I'm sad to say goodbye to the Hondallac.  It's provided 10 years 2.5 months and 151,195 miles of dependability.  It's been around for so many life changes. When I think about it, basically the Hondallac has been with me for pretty much my entire adult life.  So what all has it seen/been through with us?

• Grad School at KU when I drove every day from KC to Lawrence - this was actually why I got the Hondallac.  Ryan wanted me to be in something dependable for my many hours on the road.
• My first professional corporate tax job - downtown KC!  I felt like such a grown-up!
• Four dogs (Wyco, China, Peanut, Mojo) - and every single one of them has ridden in that car although one of them is no longer with us and we miss him dearly
• Five other owned cars (Ryan's grandfather's truck, Batmobile, Olive, The Church Lady, and Ryan's new truck I haven't named yet) and several company vehicles...none of them have outlasted the Hondallac
• Bumblebee - the beginning of our awesome, outdoor life we have here in Colorado (clearly the Hondallac never pulled Bumblebee but I thought I should mention it)
• Our first house we bought - boy were we young and so proud.  What a change from apartment living and we even had a large two-car garage for the Hondallac! 
• Our move to Colorado - from an extended stay to an apartment to our home where we've built our lives and the Hondallac continued to stay in the garage until I got Olive (and no the Hondallac didn't become the red-headed stepchild it's just that whatever it is I'm driving gets the garage space beside The Church Lady and Ryan parks outside)
• Various trips back to Kansas and down to Texas to see close friends
• Three different jobs for me in Denver - all downtown so I drove pretty much the same route every single weekday (and let's be honest - several weekends during busy season) ever since we've lived here
• Ryan's grad school (online so there was technically no driving)
• Work travel - and consequently, many, many stays in airport parking for the Hondallac
• Four different jobs for Ryan in CO - one of them a loooong drive away, which was when Ryan started driving the Hondallac and I got Olive
• Countless 5Ks, half marathons, marathons, and triathlons - I remember driving the Hondallac to Ryan's first marathon in Estes Park.  
• The purchase of our condo - a dream come true.  Technically I never drove the Hondallac up the mountain since we've had the condo but I remember one day when I went skiing by myself and it was super snowy and windy for the entire drive up and back and for the time while I was skiing and it was such an AWESOME day because no one else braved the drive or the skiing so I had the road and the ski runs seemingly to myself.  I felt safe in that car the whole time.
• Our first child, Copeland - our blessing and joy.  And while he did fit in the back of the Hondallac, it definitely wasn't as convenient as Olive or Ryan's new truck.

The Hondallac was my first and only brand new car.  I remember picking it from the showroom floor and watching them drive it off for me.  I remember shining a flashlight on it to see the blue sparkles in the black paint.  I remember thinking how cool it was to have sunroof.  I remember thinking how fancy I was to have radio controls on my steering wheel.  I remember loving that car every day from the day I got it until now...the day I sold it.  Honestly, if I would have chosen a four door way back then I probably wouldn't be selling it now (but I didn't want four doors all those years ago and I don't regret my choice)...but, while the Hondallac is still a perfectly good and dependable car, it just doesn't work for our family anymore now that we have our sweet Copeland. So here we are - passing the Hondallac on to another young girl who hopefully loves it and gets just as much wonderful use out of it as I did.  Goodbye dear, old friend.  You were a good one and will always hold a place in my heart as the first nice thing I ever bought and as a constant fixture in my changing life for over 10 years.

I cried.  So Ryan bought me this.