A Final Tribute to the Mustang

Hey y'all,

Today we took the new Mom Car on it's first grocery run. All I can say is: Great things come to those who wait.

But first, a little backstory:

When I met and then married my husband, he had a new 2013 Ford Mustang. Mustangs never fail to catch my eye, and I still joke that it's the reason we're together. When we met, I had another interested suitor that I was *ahem* trying to discourage; and I'll never forget that Jacob told me to tell the other guy that I was dating a man with a Mustang; and just like that, I was.
Our first date (that my parents didn't come to) we had planned to go hiking on a popular 5 mile trail. 2.5 miles into the woods a major storm system surprised us and we ended up hiking the last 2.5 miles uphill in the storm. We finally reached our vehicles, and we talked about what to do from there since we were soaked. He invited me into his nice new car, and though I sat, I was a nervous wreck about ruining the leather seats. He just kept telling me not to worry about it. (I had no idea then how filthy he really was when he drove it home after work every day. Ew.)
Later that same evening, we were having so much fun together that we didn't realize the lateness of the hour, and when we finally returned to the park to retrieve my car, we found the gates had already been locked. So Jacob drove me home in his nice car. I was freaking out about how my parents were going to handle my getting home right at curfew without my car. I'll never forget this guy I didn't even know reaching across the lit up console and holding my hand, telling me everything was going to be alright. He was grinning in the face of danger. But then, he had yet to see my folks freak out.

Two months later, I packed up my Pontiac and I left home in a tizzy. I called my new boyfriend, sobbing, and he just told me to bring my stuff over. When I arrived, still crying, he engulfed me in a hug, sat me on his couch, handed me an entire one of his favorite pies, and watched me stuff my face and continue to ugly cry all while explaining my situation. When I had finished the pie and took a breath, he smiled and grabbed a duffel bag he had already packed, and he took me out to the Mustang. Then he drove me to the beach for the weekend. He just told me everything was going to be ok. And it was.

That Mustang took us on many beach excursions. It took us to New Orleans spur-of-the-moment for Valentines Day after we both had a long day at work and no plans. When I told Jacob that I wanted something different for my life, he drove through the night in that Mustang to give me a ride to where I thought my life might be -- Cincinnati, Ohio. We rode away from our wedding in that Mustang and brought our second child home in it. It was our dependable backup when every other vehicle we tried to own failed. It was the cause of many frustrating budget meetings -- things were more than tight some months because, after kids came, we were still making big payments on a car that we couldn't really drive. Jacob had no attachment, it seemed, but somehow I did. It symbolized healing for me for a long time; and now, looking back, it proves my husband's generosity and love toward me. From the moment I met him, Jacob was urging me to drive it because he wanted to share it with me. He was almost ecstatic when my little Dodge Neon finally kicked the bucket and I had to start driving the Mustang to work.

This past weekend, after 4 years of slaving away to pay it off and enjoying every single ride we got in it, Jacob drove me down to Louisiana and traded in his special ride and got a newer SUV just for me and for our kids. I have never driven anything newer than my '02 Volvo station wagon that decided it was done last week. I was literally driving on a prayer making my grocery runs with the kids each week. Praying it would last another 6 months until Baby was born and we were forced to figure something else out. By then, we would have the Mustang completely paid off and we would be making mortgage payments on a house. I had a plan, but the finicky Volvo that Jacob had already poured so much effort into decided to derail that plan.

I love my new car: A massive, 2013 white Honda Pilot. It has working A/C, a working radio, a third row seat for all the kids, and even a rear camera. Jacob made me drive it home after he signed over his own car, and all he kept telling me, with a smile, was that it was all mine.
And I cried like a baby. Because I'm five months pregnant. Because we were leaving the Fun Car with all of the memories behind and it felt like my dog was dying all over again. Because I was shown, once again, in such a massive way how much this young man cares for me. How insanely lucky I am to have met and married my husband.

I cried, because God is so good, y'all.

Ramblings From Someone Who Just Needs to Post More Consistently

Hey y'all,

I've been urged to write a blog post -- by the voices within as much as the voices without (your voices). To the fans: thanks for encouraging me in this creative endeavor of mine.

Once again, too much has happened since my last entry here on the blog and I'm having a hard time condensing what I want to say. My mom used to be a blogger when she was raising us 7 and she recently stumbled across her old URL. I still hear from fans of her blog from way back when, and it was more widely read than you would think. However, the majority of posts were hardly longer than a paragraph or two, sometimes including a few pictures (because that was much harder to do then) because that's really all you have time for when you're moving and having a baby every other year and raising and homeschooling seven children single-handedly. Snippets of life.
But reading back over her old blog, it occurred to me that we were so ecstatic to even rediscover those "snippets"; and that a brief, consistent entry was almost better than the long soliloquies that I sometimes fool myself into thinking is desirable.
Longer entries about the deeper, philosophical happenings in my mind as a mother and a wife have their place, no doubt. However, I wish I would just make myself sit down more often even just to type out a paragraph or two, updating my later self on what life was like as a young 20-something raising three kids under the age of four on my funny farm in my small town.

I do have a Facebook (friend me if you haven't) where I sometimes post funny things my kids say, or snapshots of our day-to-day life. But the blog somehow has a more personal touch to it that I long to get back to.

I want to write tributes to seasons that change and things and people that mean the most to me.
I want to write about lessons I'm learning, bad days I am having, and days that turned out pretty great.
I need a space where I can purposely slow down and methodically type out what is actually on my mind.

Did you know my dog of 8 years died suddenly last month?
Did you know that my husband traded in his cool car to get me a new mom car?
Did you know that my local MOPS group approached me about taking on a small leadership role even though I've only been attending (some) meetings for six months?
Did you know that I'm studying joy and learning so many lessons in the process that impact my parenting and my mental health?
Did you know that I planned my expectations for this third baby around having another boy -- and suddenly we found out we are, in fact, having another daughter?

Some of these things you might know if you have friended me on Facebook. Some of them are still pinging around in my mind and they need a place to land -- a place like my blog.

Just ramblings for today. But feel free to drop a comment telling me what you think of the blog, what kinds of things you might like me to post about, maybe even an idea that's pinging around your mind that needs a safe place to land -- tell me about it.