In January of 2007, Jason blew out his knee and was off work for several weeks while he recovered. During that time, he looked at different cars for me and found a 2007 Camry SE. He called and told me how much it was and I said, "No way! I don't want to spend more than $15,000 on a car." He laughed and told me that we would never find a newer car for that price. Needless to say, he won and we bought the car. This car was my first "new to me" car. I loved it. I drove it so much, that I could tell when something was wrong or when the tires or brakes needed replaced. Just the other day when I was cleaning out files, I found the picture below of when we first bought the car. It was just Jason and me, with baby Conner in my belly. As I look back, it is amazing to see all of the change that has occurred in our lives since that January day. On May 15th, we sold this car because it had 233,000 miles and I was getting nervous driving it long distances. I quickly realized that this car was more than just a car to me - it was a reminder of the past 11 years and all of the good and bad life changing events I had experienced. All of my babies rode in that car, I took them to preschool while they were sobbing in that car, since the car had the best radio ever, we had the best dance parties in that car, we ate way too many ice-creams in that car, we loved that car. As I was looking at new cars to replace this one, I could help but to think the best years of my life were probably while my kids were young and while I had that car. It made me sad to thing that getting rid of it was more of a symbol of my life and the changes that are coming. Even though I might not be ready for this next stage of life, I am forever grateful of all of the memories and love of the last decade and so thankful when I look at pictures of this car, many of those memories come rushing back!
