The smell of money

Today, we said good-bye to a dear old friend, my 1990 Toyota Tercel. Hard to believe I've had her for 18 years. She was a terrific little car, haven't had to do anything to her except regular car stuff, oil changes, tires, brakes, struts, a few thermostats. She currently needs new shocks but the buyer took her as is.

Anyway, I got her while I was in college. I was visiting my dad, we went shopping and found her. The 1991 models were already on the lot, she was the last 1990 model they had and she was kept in the showroom. I don't know how much she cost, my dad did the haggling, I just remember him saying "How much do I need to put down so that she can have payments around $X.XX for 3 years?" and I drove her away.

I've put many a mile on her cruising the roads, going nowhere, listening to music, first with my best friend/roommate from college, then with my best dog, lastly with my best husband.

She was replaced in 1999 by a Camry. I've only driven her a few times since then. Scott, however, drove her to and from work all the time. I guess he adopted her as his car and she served him as well as she served me.

Now, 18 years later, she belongs to Zack, a 16 year old who was just so excited to buy his first car. His dad said we made Zacks day. I gave her a little pat on the hood, told Zack that Lynyrd Skynyrd was her favorite tunes...luckily he said he likes Skynyrd so it won't be a problem playing them for her. He was going to take her home, clean her up, he has plans to replace the stereo, which will probably happen before he replaces the shocks, he is a 16 year old boy you know.

So, Joshua got to see and hold a $100 bill for the first time. He was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't have it and somewhat disappointed he couldn't have half of all the money but felt a little better when I told him that most likely, some of it would be spent on him. I mean, most of my money is spent on him in one way or the other. I let him hold the $100 while we were in the car going to the bank. He held onto it tightly, looked at the front and back closely, then stuck it up to his nose and said "Mmmmm, it smells good!"