Continuing the Journey

A Car for the Original Princess...

I keep referring to Molly as our Princess, but yesterday reminded us that Meggie really has always been our Princess as well. She was the Original Princess. And the Original Princess is now the proud owner of a used car!

For those of you who think we are spoiling the Teenager, I really feel I must defend this purchase. Meggie is barely 5 feet tall. She is a full head shorter than most of her friends. She was excited to drive...until she got behind the wheel of my minivan. She just never felt like she was in complete control of that big vehicle...and she began to have frightening panic attacks while driving.

When I learned how to drive, my parents had a full-size van and I was forced to drive it. I distinctly remember feeling the way Meggie described her fear...that I wasn't in control of that huge vehicle and it just wasn't worth it to drive if that was the vehicle of choice. Thankfully, my parents were able to buy me a crappy little two-door AMC Hornet and I was spared the dreaded big brown van.

We began discussing a possible car purchase and told Meggie we would go look Friday after school. I, however -- being the amazing and wonderful Mommy that I am -- spent four-and-a-half hours of my Friday at the used car dealership doing all the leg work ahead of time. By the time we drove up to the dealership Friday evening, the car was already picked out, financing had already been handled, and I had already signed my part of the documents.

Chris, our salesman, came up to us as if we were complete strangers...even though he and I had spent MANY hours together earlier that day. We did the introductions and he walked us around the lot as if we were seeing these cars for the first time. When we approached Meggie's car -- a 2006 Hyundai Accent -- she noted that it had a big red bow on it. She said, "Oh, that's cute." Chris told her he had just gotten it in and it was a pretty good car. I asked her if she liked it. She said she did. I said, "Good, 'cause it's yours" and handed her the key.

She flipped out! And, no, I don't have pictures because I FORGOT THE STINKIN' CAMERA!!!!! Ugghhh...

By the time we got home, it was too dark to get decent pictures. I did try...
...and the goofball -- I mean Carson tried to jump into the shot. Fine, Carson, I'll take your picture.
OK, that's just weird. What a silly kid! Carson just HAD to be in a pic with Meggie...
...but then I asked for one of Meggie all by herself.
Woah, never mind. That was just way too close and, frankly, a bit disturbing. My Dad taught me how to drive, so that seems like a normal "Dad" job. Here is why Daddy's not teaching the Megster......'cause he tends to overreact! Actually, that was posed, but a true re-enactment of what WOULD happen if Meggie drove anywhere with her Dad.

When we went back inside after the silly photo session, Carson realized I had not eaten all of my boneless chicken wings. (It's a Friday night tradition...we get wings and then have our movie night.) I do not believe in the clean-plate-club and have actually lost a lot of my weight by portion controlling and leaving food in the plate at meals. Carson wouldn't HEAR of it! He force fed me that wing...
...and we both laughed so hard I nearly choked!

This afternoon, we decided it was time to take our first ride in the Accent...
...yikes, it really is very weird to see my baby girl...I mean my Teenager behind the wheel of a car! This is starting to make me feel old!

Meggie keeps telling everyone who will listen that she just doesn't like to drive. Well, after two-and-a-half hours of errand running today in all different kinds of traffic situations, she has changed her mind. She did very well and has decided driving can be fun...and the independence she'll gain from getting her license in June will be TOTALLY worth it!

Looking forward to many, many more errand-running trips with my Teenager. I just don't know how we'll afford all this shopping...