Cars through the stages

My first car was a little silver thing. I named her Baby. Baby had just two doors, but that didn’t stop most of my college friends from squeezing into the back when the choice was squeeze or wait for the next train. Her trunk was small but provided just enough space for my laundry and my backpack. I didn’t need much space for hauling things back then.

Baby lasted me through my college years and my first several years as a single, working woman. She transported my small collection of things from my college dorm room to my ‘off-campus’ house, to my first apartment and then, to the apartment I shared with my then-boyfriend, now-husband.

Inside that little, silver thing, we drove out of our apartment’s parking garage for the last time as fiancées.

The day my husband and I returned home from our honeymoon, Baby wouldn’t start. She just sat their silently, unresponsive to every desperate key turn. Less than a week later, I took one last photo of her before we said goodbye.

Baby saw me safely through one entire phase of my life. Then she dropped me at the doorstep of the next and quietly faded away.

As brand new newly weds, we opted for a sleek sedan and named her Zoe. Zoe stayed with us for a good while too. We drove her through our married-without-children days. You know the ones – mostly carefree (even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time) ready to go at a moment’s notice. Spontaneous and adventurous, Zoe took us places.

But, eventually, that phase passed too.

In our search for a family-friendly car, one that was large enough to accommodate our growing family, I spilled the beans about our little bean to the car salesman about a month before some of my friends and family heard the good news. That’s the way it goes sometimes. A couple of hours later, we brought Maddie home

Safely nestled within Maddie, both of our babies came home from the hospital. Maddie saw more parks and playgroups than any car to have come before her. Sand and cheerio crumbs became one with her interior. More tears echoed within her four doors. But more laughter too.

And so it goes, the time came for Maddie to move on too. Because in a million ways, big and small, the two-kid life is just different. And it needs different things.

So today, we ride in our Kia Sorento. Her name is Lucy. Lucy will visit far more parks than Maddie. After just a few months with us, she already wears a healthy coating of crumbs and sand. Double the laughter and tears have already echoed within her four doors. And we’re not even close to done.

Lucy is the first of our cars to be named by a child. She shares her name with a teddy bear that sleeps in my daughter’s bed, as both happened to join us around the same time. She proudly wears the logo of my daughter’s preschool. It is not unusual for two strollers and a random assortment of preschool artwork to be shifting around in her trunk. There are toys crammed into every pocket and snacks hidden in all of her compartments. She already bears the milk stains of a reliable kid-transporter.

Lucy joins an already long line of cars that are just perfect for the stage of life we’re in. And we love her.

Do you have the perfect car for the stage you’re in? Do you name your cars like we do?

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.