Coveted Car

I woke up before my alarm clock started beeping.  Tossing and turning, I attempted to fall back to sleep.  But, I was too excited.  I felt like a kid on Christmas morning.

 

Today is a very special day.  Why?  It is the day that I am making the final payment on my car loan!

 

To be honest, I never thought that this day would come.  It always seemed so far away.  And now that the day has arrived, I can hardly believe it.

 

Way back in 2008, the wonderful Ford Taurus that my Grandmother had given me breathed its last.  My parents spent so much money trying to keep it alive.  But, they finally looked at me and said, “You need a new car.”

 

Silly me, I thought that meant that they were going to buy one for me.  See how spoiled I am?  You can imagine the shock and huge reality check that I received when I began signing the paperwork stating that I would be the sole person paying for this new vehicle.

 

And, being the young, naive individual that I was, I happily told the dealership that I wanted to make the largest monthly payment that they had.  Stupid me!  In my mind, I figured that I could pay the car off faster that way instead of dragging it out over the course of 15 or so years.

 

Soon after purchasing the car, I got married.  And I’ll admit, times were tough.  My brilliant idea was not very helpful in the short term.  We often lived paycheck to paycheck.

 

But, I can proudly say that I NEVER had to ask anyone for assistance.  My husband and I tightened our belts, dug our heels in and kept looking forward to November 13, 2013.

 

Looking back, I would probably do the exact same thing.  As my husband recently pointed out, I am actually coming out ahead in terms of interest.  And I love knowing that the car is now officially mine.

 

I won’t say that this is my first “grown-up” life lesson, but, it certainly is an important one.  I worked hard at diligently paying off my car, even if it meant skipping going to the movies or avoiding the mall altogether.  And that, Charlie Brown, is what being a grown-up is all about.

 

Sometimes, you have to give up doing the fun stuff in order to focus on the important stuff, like paying bills, purchasing groceries, etc.  Unlike credit card debt (which we won’t get into), I will actually be using what I paid for every day.  And it feels a bit different now when I step into my 2009 Chevy Cobalt.  Every time I turn the key, I keep thinking, “I own this car!”

 

What an amazing feeling!  This just goes to show that you truly can achieve any goal, no matter how difficult (or impossible) it may seem.