Possessing The Quest

Yesterday was a whale of a day for us, both acquisitionally and in an everyday timeline sense. Not in our lives had either of us bought a new vehicle or been remotely successful at pursuing one. [aside: I remember when I first moved down to Georgia I attempted to buy, of all things, a Ford Focus and despite my short one month history of reportable residence, lack of savings and a "real" job and a poor credit score due to joining and pooh-poohing on too many by-mail record clubs since I was 14, I was denied, unless I was able to get a cosigner, a parent suggested by the salesman, at which point I somehow ended up on the forsaken side of a dealership telephone with my father on the other line pretending I had the wrong number] The car we had most recently, lovingly referred to as Sexy Bird, was given to us by Laura's parents. The Dakota was acquired out of minor desperation, and a split-second decision deal to exchange the truck for my attendance at rehearsals in Lancaster for the season was struck. I had a Pontiac Grand Am, cursed thing, that I drove from around 2002-2006, that was bought and paid for by the Cobb County Board Education thank you very much. Before that, who knows.

Which brings us to yesterday.



The Nissan dealership is a cozy little establishment with genuinely friendly employees, several of whom awarded Yuula "Best Behaved Baby Ever In Our Dealership" so we are proud of her for that. We won't tell them she pooped on the sink bathroom and sneezed all over Ted Faulstick's business cards.



A couple dozen autographs, an unprompted lesson on the child fostering system, 3 hours of watching salesmen, mechanics and financiers run around like it was their first time in the big game and a ridiculously lengthy tutorial on how to work the temperature controls (to no avail), a new set of keys were placed in our hands and a warning of the sheet of ice underneath the snow accumulating during our wait... we were outta there. We acted as if we had stolen something.



So here she is...



...taken this morning in our driveway. A V6 that seats 7, 10 speaker Bose system, automatic doors & locks, five sunroofs, three zone climate control, heated seats with lumbar support, and our stroller fits beautifully in the trunk. Still kinda feels like a rental in a way. Must be how we actually took the fast food bags out when we got home last night or the way it took me 15 minutes in the parking lot of Morris Knolls HS to figure out how to defrost the front windshield. Guess I should've paid better attention during that tutorial.

Give us a little turn there...




And, long overdue, we said goodbye to Sexy Bird.



As we pulled out of the dealership I looked over my left shoulder to the salt encapsulated black clinker sitting alone in a row of empty parking spaces and I swear I think I saw a single teardrop of engine coolant trickle down out of the headlight, over the bumper and into the snow. We had good times. But all good things must be stripped for parts and crushed into a brick of steel. Onward and upwards folks.