Goodbye Cherry . . .

In my married life, I've been the happy owner of five different vehicles:  Eppy the Sprint, a VW Fox, Barbie the pink-striped Tercel, a Ford Windstar and Cherry the Dodge Caravan.  I have fond memories of each of them, not to mention a warm heart when I think of how they came to be registered in my name (though I'm not sure why S's never ended up on the paperwork!). :)

The first was Dad's little car which he kindly handed me the keys to when I returned from Scotland - a reminder once again that I'm kind-of the spoiled youngest of the family?  I have good memories of dating S, with him re-practicing stick shift since he often borrowed the car to get home from late date-nights.  It was temperamental, making me anxious more than once for his safety. 

I can't recall what unfixable problems led to Dad once again bailing me out with his little Fox.  It did the trick for a few good years, but Uncle Rob & Auntie Erin didn't feel too great about their first niece being transported in something so unreliable.  At a family baby shower, they walked us to their car and gifted us with a car-seat strapped in the back-seat.  "It comes with an attachment," said Rob as he popped the trunk to reveal a trendy gender-neutral stroller the seat could snap into.  (Nice guy that he is, he wasn't about to let his brother push the frilly navy-blue hand-me-down buggy we had).  We were totally blown away and not expecting the further line of, ". . . and it comes with another attachment," as he passed us the keys to their car.  

And still a similar surprise came after my sister visited us following Ai's birth.  Realizing that we couldn't safely fit the two carseats in the back of a smaller two-door car, Susan secretly plotted with Scott.  Within a month, he had bought their family a new van and then drove 14 hours one day to deliver theirs to us!  

Sadly, the deluxe Windstar was written off four years later after a new driver smushed into her.  We had to replace her with Cherry, who wasn't in nearly as good of condition for the same age of vehicle.   As of August 2013, we'd had the intention of getting rid of our vehicle and not replacing it.  For us, for this season, we felt that it's something we can do due to where in the city we live, how close we are to church, schools, clinics, hospitals, libraries, music and swim lessons, stores and other things we access.  Steve cycles to work in summer, runs, cycles or buses in winter.  Most of our friends live in this section of the city and our families are too far for us to drive to more than once a year, anyway. 

So for environmental reasons only - because I love the freedom a car affords as much as anyone else! - we felt we'd try.  And I know it sounds crazy to some, but we're also in a relatively small,  flat city with a car co-op we can access or car rentals we may do once/month for big purchases or out of town needs (not to mention when we have out-of-town guests).  We're also in a supportive faith community where others have made similar choices, so we have allies as well as friends with vehicles who can help in a pinch. ;)  So don't worry too much about us . . .

I'd started preparing the kids for a new lifestyle of walking, biking and bussing last summer and hadn't prepared for Ai's initial reaction that we'd be selling the van.  Imagine head slamming down on the table, genuine sobs of despair and then the jolting words, "But I LOVE Cherry!"  I regretted letting the kids name the van as it'd obviously helped them bond more personally to her!  I learned at the time that I could only sell Cherry for roughly $500, so decided to keep her through the winter and get rid of her by Spring.  Sadly, she ran into troubles as of January 7, conveniently on the way home from dropping my in-laws off at the airport.  The mathematics of it all turned out to be:

     $450 Power steering hose replacement (immediate problem)

+   $400 to fix the rust hole under the driver's seat (which we'd known about since Sept.)

+   $500+ to fix the very new, big rust hole on the passenger side, supposedly created by an ice rut 

+   $?   for the struts that have been shot for ages

+   $?   to align the vehicle

+   $?   replacement of the brake pads & fixing of the seized back brakes

+   $?   for a few other random things 

=  a van not worth repairing . . . at least not for us.   

So, the choice was made for us.  Taking my Dad's advice, we drove the van once or twice each week through January to do things we really needed.  As long as I dumped in the steering fluid, it was drivable (though very drippy!) and so I started making the big purchases needing done before we had our final voyage.

It made for some intensity in January - firstly on the budget, as I bought tons of kitty litter, bags of flour, caseloads of canned tomatoes and beans, etc.  Then came the loft beds for the girls' rooms.  I had intended such beds at some future date to better make use of space in their small bedrooms, particularly Iz's.  I rigorously checked Kijiji and was pleased to be the first responder to two at last, though ironically it meant picking up and rebuilding two beds within three days of each other.  Lots of upheaval and not much fun for S.  While I'd measured the new bed for Iz before purchasing it, I hadn't accounted for the space needed for assembly.  With about 4 inches to spare at the end and no chance to move the bed on an angle, it was quite the feat for S to get the screws in and secure the bunk bed wall.  It was a rather tense Saturday . . .

That said, so far so good.  Ai arrived home from school to see the removed license plates by the wall after the morning sale.  "Awww.  Can I keep one so I can always remember Cherry?"  When I replied with a "no . . . . " that was that, and he accepted the change we'd been working up to for a long time.  We've made it through some rough weather already sans vehicle.  We'll certainly look forward to the day we can haul our bikes out of the basement and get around in half the time it's taking us at present.  No complaints yet regarding life without car ownership, but you can check in with me next year this time and I'm sure there'll be much more to say on this topic . . .