in with the new.

I didn't get my first car until I was 22 and starting grad school. It was a 1990 Honda Accord, black with a manual transmission and a sunroof. In a way, I learned how to drive on that car, as I had never driven a stick shift before. It was trying at first, and an incident on a hill left me with hill anxiety for over a year, but now I've come to prefer manual transmissions.

Anyway, the car that was only supposed to get me through grad school ended up hanging around for almost three years. As the months went by it got rustier, it started making more noises, it lost its musical soul, and little insignificant things stopped working. But it always started, even on the coldest Minnesota days. When it didn't start one day after work in December, I knew that after so much procrastination it was about time to start looking for a newer car. And as I later watched my car get towed to the mechanic, I felt a twinge of nostalgia as it looked so sad and helpless on the tow truck. I would miss it.

Well, I finally got a new (used) car. A 2005 Hyundai Elantra. It's light gold (not the best color, but oh well), five speed, and has a cd player. I've been driving it around for four days now, running many errands and listening to many CDs. (Oh my gosh! Stereo!) It drives well, it's fun, and it has a remote control key! So many things my old car didn't have.

So when I drove my old Honda to my parent's house (what to do with it is to be determined at a later date), I realized maybe I won't miss it so much. I won't miss the rusty bumpers, I won't miss the spark plug that kept falling out, I won't miss the hole where a stereo should have been. I will miss the sunroof, ah, the sunroof. I will miss the fleeting feeling that an old rusty car felt more my style than a much newer and shinier one.

Really, nothing reminds you more of the impending doom of adulthood more than spending thousands of dollars on something to get you around.