Sometimes a Car is More than Just A Car

Sometimes a car is a symbol of forward progress toward the domestic bliss that I've always dreamed of.  Okay, I'm being cheeky but our vehicular purchase actually did have quite an emotional impact on me.

We've been looking at cars since last October and had test driven the Volkswagen Tiguan back in February.  I really loved it but after we moved to LA and parallel parking wasn't relevant anymore we started looking at some larger crossover style cars.  Then last week I asked myself "How did I go from  thinking about a small 5-seater V-Dub to thinking about a huge-ass minivan?" and I realized that I really still wanted the Tiguan after all this time.  Matt was on board because it has really good safety ratings and is pretty fun to drive when compared with other crossover vehicles.

So yesterday, we headed over to a dealership downtown and Matt made them an offer.  When they got game-y and offered to meet him "halfway" we left that dealership and Matt started negotiating with a dealership up in Van Nuys.  Because Matt is unstoppable when it comes to consumer electronics and cars, we ended up the proud owners of a Candy White (with Sandstone interior) 2011 Tiguan for a really amazing price.  

I know it's just a car but it's kind of a huge deal for me.  This is the first new car I've ever owned and by far the biggest purchase that Matt or I have ever made (unless you count the behemoth that is post-graduate education).  I was grinning the entire drive home from the dealership but I didn't get sentimental until I was sitting in the back seat while my Dad drove it around our block.  

I looked up through the huge panoramic moon-roof (by far my favorite thing about the car) and started thinking about how I had lived in five different places before we got rid of the last of our two family cars- an early 80's VW Jetta and early 80's VW Rabbit.  What we drove was a more constant thing than where we called home!  It struck me as so special that this will be the car that Lily will grow up loving when she's younger and being embarrassed about when she's older.   This will be the car that takes us to the places and experiences that make her childhood- sports events, dance classes, family road trips and everything else that is mundane but life-defining.

I had to choke back tears while I told my parents about the features of the car but I think we all knew that the automatic-locking doors and grocery bag hangers in the trunk aren't what made today special. 

Don't worry, the car was stationary.  :)