My Pontiac Grand Am ~ RIP ~

SO, the time has *finally* come.  I got a new car!!  Yay!  Here is a little synopsis of life with my 2000 Pontiac Grand Am...

*sappy award show music*

I bought my 2000 Pontiac Grand Am in March of 2001.  This was the first "new" car that I had ever really bought AND paid off.  We had a nice life together.  Traveled around the Midwest.  Toted me to plenty of Dave Matthews shows.  Drove up to a few Bears/Vikings games up at the Metrodome.  Took a total random road trip to Columbus, Ohio to the Columbus Crew Stadium to watch the World Cup game at...shoot, 3 am or something crazy like that!  We didn't get a hotel, we slept in the car!  My little Grand Am definitely carted all three of my lovely cats to and from the Vet.  Gracie loved to curl up in the front seat and then stand on her hind legs to look out the window and hiss whenever we were at the end of our journey.  She was *great* cat in the car!  It delivered us safely to Illinois State and home numerous times.  My car brought me to and from my Chili's openings around the Midwest.  OH...and lets not forget the amazing amount of balloons that I could shove into that thing.  Especially for Mindy's 30th birthday...I was impressed!  Overall, there were some GREAT times that my car and I have shared.    

AH, it was a nice little eight year life span with my car!

But then all good things come to an end.  Right?! 

Then while I was at ISU my car began not starting consistently.  There was this security thingy... I had to wait 10 minutes for my engine to reset.  Ugh!  It was annoying.  I remember after one of my doubles at the Bloomington Chili's I had tripped this security thing 3 times.  SO, I had to wait a total of 30 minutes to start my car!!  I got that fixed...thanks to some help from my madre.  Then there was the car not passing emissions because of an O2 censor.  That was a fiasco and a half!  During my student teaching the non-starting of my car continued.  My step-father side-swiped my car while in their driveway as well.  Hm...oh and more recently, last summer my hood decided it was done opening.  Hm, The Great Wiper Incident.  I was driving down Butterfield Road in the beginning of December, used my wipers to clean my windshield, and thought something hit my windshield!  NOPE.  I just had my passenger side wiper FLY off and land somewhere on Butterfield Road.  So, I was down to one wiper.  AH.  Let's not forget there is The Great Window Incident.  I went to the bank to deposit my cash and my window fell off the track.  THANKFULLY the window fell off the track, but it was still in the upright position.  There was about a quarter of an inch opened at the top.  Needless to say, I kept the heat on high, but it was still chilly for my left hand while driving.  This happened shortly thereafter the great wiper incident.  

I'm sure you're all curious to know what WAS the straw that broke the camels back, aren't you? :)

WELL...I was driving yesterday (for those that don't know it was a steady, wet, slippery snow) on West Loop Road in Wheaton.  West Loop connects Naperville Road to Butterfield Road and you bypass the Danada traffic--there are town homes and a church (big surprise) off of this road.  Well, I was on my way from Downtown Wheaton to Naperville to meet up with Chris, Megan and Caitlin for dinner at Carabbas.  So, as I'm driving down this residential street my car slips and I NAILED a curb and my window fell down.  I freaked out, because I really nailed this curb and the window fell down at the same time.  I pretty much immediately burst into tears.  I was done.  Just done with all of it.  I jumped out of the car and looked at my passenger side tire.  It looked awful...you could tell that the rim was bent.  SO, I jumped back in the car, and put some gloves on (...my window was all the way down) called Chris like twelve times, texted him twice and left some voicemails.  I then called my Auntie Jane.  Her husband, my uncle, works for Honda of Lisle.  So, I called her and told her I was on my way to the dealership--I was done with my car, I just wanted to get a new one (I got lucky he works late on Tuesdays).  She called him and filled him in on the emotional basket case that I was, and the state of my car.

Alas, this brings me to the title of this post...

RIP my 2000 black Pontiac Grand Am...you were a great car.  I absolutely loved my time with you!  It's sad to see you go and yet I'm *so* happy to let you go.  Our time has been well spent!

*smooches*

*some lovely closing credit music*