Jeep Girl
I wrote this post originally back in November... but it was stuck in my drafts for quite some time... and now it's out of my drafts... and that's a better place for it.
Today we said a final farewell to my old faithful Jeep Wrangler. This car has been the only car that I've ever owned since I was in high school. I remember the day that we bought the car. There are a lot of things that I am sure I forget but this car had some incredible memories in 19 years. I had this car for more than half my life. A person can do a whole lot of living in that time.
But the car has been such a part of my identity in a way. I loved how small it was. I knew every nook of that car. I knew how much space I had for parking, turns, packing, and more importantly ... before running out of gas which I never did once. I knew there was a tennis ball stuck in the corner of the truck for probably the last 8 years. I could have easily gotten it out, but never really got around to it until today.
In a weird way, I feel like saying "good bye" to the old Jeep is a way of me letting go of any baggage and (some) immaturity lingering. At times I can have an incredible case of "grownup" imposter syndrome, and maybe letting go of the car I drove with my first boyfriend will help that. In spite of being a home owner with a mortgage and graduate school debt, I sometimes just don't feel like I'm old enough for any of this. But in reality I really am. At least, the bank who gave me the mortgage believes I am.
In the spirit of saying farewell to the Jeep, I wrote down a bunch of lists of things that happened in that car. I miss it. There is absolutely no way that my modern Jeep Cherokee with electric seats will have nearly as many memories. It's just not possible.
Work // Here are all the jobs that I drove this car to.
- lifeguarding in Hingham. On several occasions I had to call my dad to pick up the car because it would be raining and I would have forgotten to put up the soft top.
- interning in Quincy between my junior and senior year of college
- driving it around Mass during my years in public accounting.
- driving it to NJ for that summer I lived there
- back and forth to the airport when I worked for IBM
- back and forth to the train station when I moved to the burbs
- I hit the light post in the driveway. Square on. I did not clip it. I am still not sure how this happened.
- I rear ended a woman in Hingham on my way to get my first bank account before college.
- One time in college, I came out to the car completely crooked in a parking spot ... and a parking ticket. According to the campus police, a bunch of strong guys probably thought it would be fun to lift the car and move it. Not joking. I didn't pay the ticket obviously.
- A woman rear ended me just before the 4th of July in Cohasset. She was an odd duck.
- A pipe flew off a Clean Harbors truck on my way home for Thanksgiving one year and dented the front hood of the car. Could have killed me, but no biggie.
- But the worst time was the day I graduated from College, I got into a small accident on the highway... and then ran over a family of ducks. Yes, a family.
"Boyfriends" that rode in the car... term used loosely in some occasions. Not that it's a competition, but not every person I dated has rode in my car. I've dated more than 4 people.
- Chris // driving it to Kingston to see that boy that would never really kiss me. I remember parking it in his side yard next to his Jeeps. He was the first one to teach me about the "Jeep Wave"
- Justin // driving it to Vermont for a romantic weekend. Picking him up from the airport countless times. He never picked me up from the airport once.
- Tom // I was pretty lazy when we dated. I think I made him do most of the driving ... but I'm pretty sure that I drove us to the movies once.
- Per // Not a real boyfriend, but I did pick him up from the train for a suburbs date. Boys were always rather interested in the fact that I drove an old Jeep Wrangler. Per was one of them.
Places it's been driven // I am by nature a homebody but that doesn't mean the car hasn't always stayed in the driveway.
- Furthest South = Philadelphia to visit my boyfriend at the time when I was in NJ
- Furthest West = Yankee Candle
- Furthest North = Christmas Cove Maine or Vermont
- Furthest East = Provincetown? I don't think it ever made it to the Vineyard
Times I remember calling AAA
- When I got my first flat tire driving to have lunch with my mom. They couldn't figure out where I was so a nice highway worker and his friend changed it for me. Never told anyone that story before... but he said "I wouldn't want my own daughter out here by herself". I did ask them both for ID first. Nerd.
- Dead batteries multiple times at BC. I habitually forgot to turn off the interior lights.
- When I locked my keys in the car attending an MBA info session at MIT. After breaking into the car, I then found the keys in the bottom of my gym bag which was on my shoulder the entire time. For what it's worth, we found 4 spare keys in the console of the car while cleaning it today.
- Multiple times that summer in NJ for "hose issues". It was a very expensive 3 months. The upside is I did improve my negotiating skills with car mechanics.
- But the scariest was when I broke down on a highway in Newark, the cars were going by so fast that the car was shaking on the side of the road. I managed to get off the highway (dumb move) and into a dunkin donuts parking lot. I've never been so freaked out for my safety than I was waiting for AAA at that Dunkin Donuts. My bf at the time was in Peru and I remember sending him blackberry messages panicking.
Things that were broken and I never fixed
- CD player // this stopped working after year two or so. Technically it still worked if you just wanted to listen to a cd in the exact order and not skip tracks. In hind sight, I think I left my Vertical Horizon cd in the player when I sold the car. It has been in there for 17 years. I'm not kidding.
- gas gauge // for probably the last two years the gas gauge has not really been accurate. So I would always reset the odometer every time I got gas and refill before I drove 250 miles.
- peeling paint // for some reason the paint would always peel on certain hinges and mirrors... and not others. I'm not sure why but after fixing it once, it felt like a never ending cycle.
Memorable Passengers
- Taking my grandfather for a ride one father's day I think. He said he hadn't been in a Jeep since the war.
- In high school, Taking my grandmother to Hingham for my prom dress fitting appointment. I just scanned a picture of this the other day.
- While I was in grad school, I drove my friend Will and I to our eye doctor appointments in Belmont. Half way there a spider started to crawl down the front windshield, Will reached out and smack it... and shattered the windshield. He felt terrible. I could only laugh. The spider was dead and that's all that mattered.
- Driving my sister and I back from Boston on countless occasions. She would be singing like an idiot in the passenger seat... and I'd record her. I still have these videos.
- One million trips to Dunkin Donuts with my brother. I have no idea how many honestly, like 19 years worth. He grew up from a car seat in the back to the front passenger seat... and even to the driver seat.
- 77,777 = August 2009 // driving back from Philly the summer I lived in NJ
- 100,000 = December 2015 // I moved home to the burbs from Boston
- 121,499 = November 2018 // the day I sold the car
This was great. We have a history of keeping our cars until they die, so each car has their own special memories. But the first is always the most special. Ours, C & I, was a very old used Vista Cruiser Station Wagon with so many funny stories I’ll have to sit down with and relive them. We bought it when we lived in NYC and needed a clunker to get in and out for sanity on some weekends. We paid $225. And we sold it for $225. Many years later.
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