Meet Sophie :)
(Okay... so this isn't really her, but this picture is a lot more epic than one taken from the driveway. Plus she looks just like this)
So did I graduate high school with a 4.0 GPA? Actually, no. That's why I didn't expect a car when I graduated 2 years ago (can you believe it has been almost 2 years??). I did however, graduate with a 3.9 and high honors. I was still pretty proud of myself considering I had more than a year of college under my belt: 33 credits. I was totally fine driving my little junker, Karalia, around and riding public transit. However, a few weeks ago she started to get sick. We all knew it was coming, but losing a car is always difficult.
(I have so many fond memories with my baby - mostly of me caressing the dashboard and encouraging her to start or to get up large hills. I don't know why I get attached to things like cars, but I'm certainly going to miss her. We donated her to Kidney Kars. I was standing in the driveway when they drove off with her and it actually made my heart sink a little. Maybe pathetic, but hey)
My parents began talking about ways to afford another car and in my mind I was thinking another junker to share with Jeremy, maybe resorting back to UTA, and certainly not for awhile. So the day I pulled into the driveway to meet this beautiful thing, I was shocked. And when my dad handed me the keys and told me she was all mine I was even more shocked!
I began thinking that if my parents were really going to buy me a car they better be considering it Christmas and my birthday for the next two years or more! (I always hated those girls in high school who's parents bought them things like cars and they still seemed ungrateful. Exhibit A: my friend Angie). Now I was afraid I was one of them!) I decided to bring it up with my mom to make sure we were on the same page. Turns out she kinda guilt-ed my dad into rewarding me for winning the bet. She knew that had I taken 'easy A' classes I very well could have graduated with a 4.0, but I had decided to take college classes and still managed to pull out a 3.9. Therefore, I guess my dad justified buying me a used car 2 years late, rather than a brand new car right when I graduated. Well I'm certainly not complaining - I couldn't feel more grateful! It amazes me how much my parents take care of me, even when I think I'm becoming independent. Life could be so much more difficult, riding public transit is definitely a challenge, and yet my parents want me to have the best life possible and seem to do anything to give it to me. I only hope that I can be as incredible of a parent as they are. They sacrifice so much for me and I am eternally grateful.
Now how do you thank your parents for buying you a car...?