Today was the best story ever. I could give you the bullet points but it wouldn't do it justice. But first, a little context... well, maybe a lot of context. Because no good story is ever complete without a healthy dose of it, let's be honest.
The car I have now, I have driven forever... or at least, what seems like forever. In actuality, it's been about six years. From its outset, this car has been destined to be a blessing to others. It was given to me by some family friends whose mother passed away and willed it to them. They didn't need it and had been praying about who they should give it to. At the time, I was in college and desperate to move off campus in order to save money on my growing pile of student loans. I barely had a dime to my name and had literally started praying that a car would fall from the sky. Little did I know at that time that God was totally taking me seriously. So of course it blew my mind when a 1992 Buick Le Sabre fell into my hands for the whopping sale price of $1. It was a light blue grandma car with about 70,000 miles on it at the time but I didn't care. It was the answer to prayer I'd been looking for. I have literally driven that thing til today. It has been such a good car: a complete beast in snow and ice, hauling around not only half my teaching library, but also its fair share of music scores, camping equipment, and high schoolers to student ministry activities. It's had coffee spilled in it and helped me move on multiple occasions, has survived an interstate blowout, an exploding coolant system, and rear-ended someone (due to my lack of attention... oops). I had named her Norma because she reminded me very much of the lady who took care of me when I was a little girl... Norma, who owned and operated a family dairy farm, together with her adult siblings and her mother: sturdy and ready to work with a hint of country in her. I drove her all over Columbia while I was in school and now St. Louis for the past two and a half years. These days, she just isn't getting the fuel economy I need her to and sadly, her reliability (at least for this pianist) has diminished significantly, particularly in the past year or two. It's time to find a new home for her.
So I've been looking. I started looking for a new car about mid-December. What a process. I can't tell you the number of slithery people I've talked to, nor the number of questionable cars I've test-driven. Every morning I would get up, scan craigslist, search through cars.com and carsoup, and start making calls... it was mind-numbing and draining and exhausting. At first I wanted a Jetta (and I eventually still do), but after taking one to my mechanic which turned out in every way to be just like the last guy I dated, I realized that now is probably not the right time to buy one. Had I bought that car, I would've totally named it after him. (sidenote: one thing I will say, I have learned so much about dating, simply by going through the process of buying a used car. There were days when the weight of looking for needles in haystacks in multiple areas of my life was not only overwhelming, but super discouraging...). After the Jetta fiasco, I started looking at Altimas and Honda Accords, particularly at the advice of our mechanic, who is a trusted family friend. Eventually I found one: drives tight, no major problems, reasonably decent mileage, only 10 yrs old. The catch? Sticker price about $1500 more than I'm able (or want) to pay. Eek! Long story short, this morning my dad and I went to the dealership to talk turkey. The car was still available and Dad had pre-coached me through the negotiation process. He and some of his friends had also done some considerable research into this particular Accord, as well as 02 Accords in general. We were so ready for this morning. It took about three rounds of negotiations but we finally arrived at the right price -- exactly the amount that I was able to pay. God is so good. Dad thinks I could've gotten it for maybe $200 cheaper than I did, but he says I did well for my first time. He would know. He used to sell cars.
But this is the best part: after we picked up the Accord and signed all the paperwork, I called my sister's boyfriend Will to let him know that it was time to sell the Buick. Will had agreed to help me from the outset and since Dad had done a lot of the work in helping me test-drive and negotiate, I figured this was one area where Will could take the wheel (no pun intended. Promise. I hate puns) and sail through with flying colors. I was praying for a good buyer -- someone who would use her well and not dissect her for parts or sell her to a scrap yard. Will and I had agreed to sell the Buick for only the cost of the sales tax on the Accord. Within an hour or less, Will texted to let me know that he had a buyer... it was a friend of his, a friend who's been out of work for awhile, whose family has been through its own share of pain and heartache, and really needs a car to help them out. When I talked to Will later tonight, he indicated to me that this was no ordinary sale. Once again, Norma is falling from the sky into the hands of someone who desperately needs her at just the right moment. It makes my heart so happy it hurts...
God, you are so, so good.
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