blessing: a 'new' car

when we first got married we lived in the city.  we didn't need two cars, it was difficult enough to find parking for one, and a few weeks before our wedding, my then fiance totalled his car.  he was completely fine but the car was deemed a total.  we actually thought it was a blessing because it took care of our second car problem.  after nine dreadful months in the city we bought our house in the suburbs.  my husband works in the city so we decided to save our pennies and continue to only have one car.  i'm able to drop him off at the train station before work and pick him up after.  for the most part it worked out beautifully but i'd be lying if i said it was ideal.  the train station in the morning isn't a fun place to be and there were many times after i got home from work that i wasn't thrilled with leaving the house to go pick him up.  we purposely bought a house close to the train station so it is possible to walk home but somehow there ended up being very little walking going on.  in the nice weather i would drive the car up to the train station and then walk home.  these days it is too dark after work and i'm kind of a wuss when it comes to the cold.  i go to yoga in the evenings and he would pick up the car and wait for me.  none if this is a big deal in the grand scheme of things but when my parents would go on vacation and let us borrow one of their cars we felt like we won the lottery.  i could sleep in later in the mornings and the scheduling was so much easier.  in all though, the benefits of being a one car family outweighed the negatives and we made it work.

as i've written before my gram fell and broke her hip, made it home all fixed for one night and had a ministroke.  she told my mom on wednesday that my husband and i are welcome to use her car while she's continuing her recooperation at home (she came home again this morning.  i'm accepting prayers that she stays home this time).  we were so excited.  our plan was to pick it up this weekend and then my mom and sister surprised us yesterday by picking it up and dropping it off at our house.  we are now the proud (temporary) owners of a 1995ish oldsmobile cutlass.  the car only has 26,600 miles on it.  it literally is the car that the little old lady drove to church once a week.  well, and to her hair appointment on fridays.  to my gram, that was almost as important.

it will be strange to get up and drive myself to work every morning like a normal person.  while i won't miss battling angry commuters in the morning, i will miss those few minutes that we got to spend with one another.  i'm used to doing EVERYTHING and going EVERYWHERE together because we really didn't have a choice.  i know we still will for the most part but it makes me sad in some ways.  in all, i feel so blessed to have this second car for a little while.  not having one for nearly four years makes me really appreciate it.  more than that, i'm thankful my gram is home.  she's been giving us some scares recently.

have wonderful weekends!