Bye Bye Saturn

Tonight, we sold my Saturn SL2 to CarMax. The car was replaced in October with my Volvo SUV and it has been sitting in the drive way for the last 6 months. We have had several interested folks come and drive the car through word of mouth and have offered it at increasingly lower prices to family members in need of wheels, but no one wanted my sweet, old car.

I may be oddly attached to this vehicle but the truth is that there was so much more than 104,000 miles on that car. I got her when I was 20 years old. She had 7 miles on the odometer when she was delivered to my apartment from Saturn of Cary. My dad bought the car for me after a shoulder injury sidelined my first Saturn. Seriously. The car had no power steering and I had no right shoulder strength. Made for VERY interesting parking situations.

My dad let me pick the car and the color. A very big deal to me. That car carried me, literally, all the way through my 20s.

I drove it to Memphis, TN and back, which led to the tumultuous end of Craig & Meg - Part I. But it was the same car I drove when Craig & Meg - Part II started. I drove it home from our second first date. I drove it home from the airport after flying back from our honeymoon.

It drove me to my first job out of college. Should have been something glamorous for a newly graduated engineer. Yeah... I was a hostess at Olive Garden. But it all worked out. I eventually drove that car to medical school and then residency. It safely transported me back and forth to the hospital more times than any vehicle ever should.

There are many more tales.... the serial break ins, the miracle accident in Memphis, the hunk of the metal in the middle of the highway that some how only caused a scratch in the door. Yes, it was a 10 year old car made by a now out of business car maker but it was a good friend of mine that was with me for a formative decade of my life.

I started driving her as a silly 20 year old with stars in my eyes and the last time I drove her, I put my daughter in the backseat and drove her to her first doctor's appointment. Pretty cool.