My Galant

Well, it has finally happened. I got a new car. After driving my Mitsubishi Galant for 14 years I was more than resistant to replacing it. I loved that car, it had a very special place in my heart. And after all those years, I knew that car very well and I found a lot of comfort in driving something I was so familiar with. I knew how it handled in the snow and ice, I knew the turning radius and how small of a parking spot I could reasonably squeeze it into. Sometimes the door to the gas tank wouldn't open and I had to pry my keys into the door crack before pulling the lever that released the door latch. I had to move my seat back in order to pop the truck because my seat would block the release lever. I usually had to pop the trunk from inside the car because the key stopped working to open it, except on those rare occasions were it responded to slamming on the trunk with your fist and it would open.
 It had a lot of quirks, like how you had to drive it for 30 minutes before turning on the heater, or how you would have to turn off the heat while idling at a stoplight so it didn't stall. Sometimes the air conditioning would go out for no reason at all, and then just as mysteriously start working again. The dome light that is supposed to turn on when you open the car door hasn't worked in ages, so I got used to fumbling around in the dark when I got in and out of the car. The front bumper was broken and would sometimes catch in the wind and pull the car a bit. Of course that added to noise of the vehicle, too. The windshield was cracked and chipped, but I got used to looking past those. The side mirror broke ages ago, but there was enough of it left that it worked just fine. It had an oil leak so we had to park it over a large box in the garage
After driving in it for so many years without a working radio, I got used to driving with only my thoughts to entertain me. Even once we got a new radio I found that I preferred the silence. Or at least as silent as that old car would get. The engine was loud, the belts would squeal when I started it. The headlights worked very poorly and using them was almost pointless, except to help the other drivers see the car better. The black lines in the back window that were supposed to defrost it only had a few still working. The trunk was a mess, the bottom of it that covered the spare tire was long ago warped and ruined, I think from a broken gallon of milk. The smell from the raw beef forgotten in the trunk for several days in the heat of July didn't help matters either. I still remember cleaning the leaked blood out of the trunk at 2am the night before Girls Camp.
This was the car we bought after we were first married so it contains so much of my adult life. Reflecting on it I realize it contains a thousand memories, of myself and my children. I recall my first few months driving the car in Logan, mostly just to work at Gordon's Glass in North Logan, Utah. I recall how I would drive with great anxiety on those icy roads when I found out I was pregnant. Once after a huge snowstorm I dug my way out of the deep snow in the parking lot (pregnant) and finally made it to work only to have the car get stuck halfway into the snowy work lot and I recall my sweet coworkers (who were all men at least 15-30 years older than myself) coming to my rescue and forcing me inside the building while they took care of my car.

Our 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. Driggs, Idaho 2001

This was the car I took my babies home from the hospital in and drove them to their first days of school and that took us to the homes of loved ones near and far. We drove it back and forth across the country to Ohio and Idaho, we took it on other road trips short and long, to visit friends, family, and sometimes just to vacation.
I recall some of the stressful times in it as well. The time I hit a yellow pole (which I will never live down). The broken bumper from trying to pull it out of a snowbank next to a friend's driveway. The dent on the passenger side from the time I got too close to our rental house while backing it through the gate into the backyard. The dents on the side from the time I was driving home to Ohio from Michigan with Calin in a bad snowstorm and the car in front of me slammed on it's breaks and we both slid off the road, except I hit the guard rail and they didn't. Too many times has this car broken down and I have had to be rescued (usually by my BIL, Curtis). The times the battery has died after the kids had turned the dome light on or not shut their door all the way. I learned very quickly how to use those jumper cables I kept in the trunk. So many things have broken over the years, many times it has felt more like a death trap than a reliable vehicle.
This car has taken my children and myself on all of our adventures. We've been on vacations, to camps, zoos, museums, sporting events, gym meets, school, the library, church. So much of our life has been spent in the car. So much laughter as we've watched our children's silliness through out the years. Tears, so so many tears have been shed in that car for a myriad of reasons.
I have been very resistant to saying goodbye to that old car. I have loved it, and I have had good reason to love it. But the time has finally come that I realize I need a car that I can rely on. I have tried to look at  new cars over the last few years and each time I did I gave up. It wasn't time to replace my Galant, I never felt good about it. A few months ago we were trying to figure out the best option for us since we have many gym meets coming up, which includes a trip to Portland. My car wouldn't make it, and Darin's truck wasn't very practical for traveling. After much prayer and fasting and taking the matter to the temple, I still couldn't resign myself to a new car. Instead I got the feeling that I would know it was time and that it was the right car when I sat in it, it would feel like my car. And we moved on with life. But then the tire axle broke in my Galant and we once again had to make the decision if we should replace the car. And I, being stubborn, refused. After all, it's still cheaper to fix the car than replace it.

It 200,000 miles on July 26, 2015

Darin ended up buying an inexpensive car on an auction site and selling his truck. And I thought that was that. We had a car that would get us to Portland, and I got to keep my Galant. Things were settled. But then last week my engine switch stopped working. It had been going out for a while, I had to turn the key a dozen times before the car would start, but it would eventually turn over. But the day finally came last week that I couldn't start it even after trying 4 different keys 100 times. And so the next day Darin brought me a 2012 Camry to test drive on my lunch break. I took it on one short test drive into town to pick up lunch and felt great in the car. Every other car I've driven hasn't felt like mine, it hasn't felt quite comfortable or it had a ton of things I didn't like. But not this car. This car was immediately comfortable and I was at ease driving it, even in the snow. I couldn't find one thing I didn't like about it, it was even the dark gray color that I wanted. And so when Darin offered to buy it, I agreed. Just like that. As if we hadn't spent months debating and stressing over the issue. As if I hadn't cried many times at the thought of saying goodbye to my beloved Galant. It was finally resolved and I owned a new car.

My Galant stuck in the handicapped spot at the gym, and behind it my new Camry.

I know that most people wouldn't get worked up over a situation like this, but I get attached to some things, and after 14 years in that car, I loved it. As ridiculous as it seemed, it was a difficult decision for me. I planned to drive that car into the ground (which I probably did several times over). I couldn't stand the thought of someone else owning my beloved car. I planned to pass it on to Calin in a few years when he is old enough to drive But having a new car has put all of that out of my mind. I still have my Galant while we figure out what to do with it. Curtis hot wired it and it is now parked in my driveway with a dead battery. Perhaps that is why it has been easier for me to move on, because I have had time to fall in love with the Camry before I have to say goodbye to the Galant.

Today: sitting dead in the driveway, and annoyingly blocking the sidewalk.

I don't know what will become of that car, but I am already in love with the Camry. It heats up in a matter of minutes, that has to be my favorite perk. The headlights work properly, as do the dome lights. The power seat means I can adjust it to the perfect comfort spot. It seems to handle great in the snow so far. And several people have already commented on how much quieter it is to ride in that my Galant. In just a few weeks we will take it on our first adventure, a gym meet in Boise. We will fill it with suitcases and snacks and entertainment and we will begin making new memories. We will probably have to make an emergency stop on the side of the road so Calin can throw up. I will probably curse the kids for getting crumbs all over. I will undoubtedly fall asleep in the front seat while Darin is driving and the kids are reading. The kids will irritate each other (and me) and our life will go on as usual. And just like that I will be over my Galant and ready to make new memories in my Camry. My kids will probably learn to drive in it, they will take it on their first dates, I will drive them off to college and the MTC, and drive it to their wedding receptions. Many memories will be made in this car, I've no doubt. Like with my Galant, I will probably make it a part of my family. I will probably become irrationally attached to it. And I will probably refuse to part with it, even long past the time that I should.