I should be driving a Tahoe

This coming Wednesday will be my 12 year truckiversary. Every year seems a little more special than the last. Red and I have seen a lot and done a lot since that fall day when my dad brought the beautiful Detroit machine home. I remember throwing a bratty fit  and making him take it back. I also remember having him take me back to get it 2 days later. It was 1998.  I was 17 and had driven my first car, a red 1965 Ford Mustang, for 14 months as a licensed driver. Mustang was a good car. She had lots of character.

No A/C, trunk wreaked of gas. Gas gage didn't work so I had to keep her full all the time. My favorite part was the mustang on the cassette player. My least favorite part was the visa grip that had replaced the original window roller. Shortly before I stopped driving my mustang a sophomore met me in the senior parking lot and insisted that I take him home. I objected but before I knew it, he had opened the door and gotten in. For the entirety of that 3 minuter car ride I struggled with telling him that the passenger door only opened from the outside. When we arrived at his home, I got out, walked around the car and let him out. I was such a gentleman. That kid's name was Devin.
Ultimately my parents convinced me that we needed something more reliable to take to college. It's a standard and we bought it the day before Thanksgiving. Dad took me backroading to get the hang of switching gears. I got so frustrated I told him to take it back. Again. Of course he didn't and the next day, stuck at my aunt's house and bored out of my teenage mind I decided that gorgeous red truck was my only way out. So I drove to Wal-mart to purchase some floor mats for red. I died about a hundred times at each stop light, but her transmission survived and we thrived together.Red, Angela and I were regular fixtures on the "drag".

My mom had a special love for red. She would always remind me of how pretty she was and how lucky I was to have her.That truck has been with me for every important event in my life aside from my birth. high school graduation, move to college, mom dies,move back home,start dating Devin, have Cameron, become pharmacy tech,get married,go to HPU for 1 year,separate from husband for 6 months, get back together with husband,move to San Angelo, move back, have Carson, go to CJC for year,Dad dies, switch jobs.
All she required from me over these 123,000 miles was a transmission and motor. Oh and I had to replace the windshield and drivers side window. When I was pregnant with Cameron, Les helped me remove my bucket seat and huge console and put in a bench seat so that the whole family could ride. Then Devin got a Bravada and put my bucket seats back in. Then when I found out Carson was coming, Dad confessed that he had burned my bench seat when he cleaned out the barn. So I bought a 75/25 to could accommodate both kids. In total my truck has housed 3 seats. It still has the tool box I received from my parents on my 18th birthday. It still has the Kenwood CD player I bought will my project graduation money. I started off with 2 seats and 4 cupholders. I lost 2 cupholders the day my dad found out I started smoking and ripped the ashtray/cupholder assembly from the dashboard. A light still shines through where that cupholder should be. The other 2 cup holders where in the console and thus are no more.

She has had her share of health scares.Someone drove right into the back bumper in 2004 when I was doing some work deliveries. I have backed her into Angela's convertible, some girl;s honda at a party, and a van. Devin wrecked her into some fencing on a back road. In 2000 another stupid boy drove it into a bar ditch inflicting the first imperfections into her paint job.I ran into the back of a van in 2008. She has never been to a body shop. Each scar is a story, a moment in our life together.
Unfortunately my kids have outgrown my truck and I am toying with the idea of adding a third vehicle to our household just to shuttle them around in when they have friends over but for now I will utilize Devin's truck as I have gone long enough without a car payment to know, I REALLY DON'T WANT A CAR PAYMENT.I would have paid about $28,000 in car payments if I had traded red in when she was paid off and that's assuming the car payment was $300 per month. 
 I am always offended when someone who I meet says,"why does Devin drive a new truck and you drive this?" Well my friends it is because Devin is not monogamous when it comes to vehicles and he does not become emotionally attached. I love love love my truck. I know all the other moms are driving sport utility vehicles and vans and late model cars. But I am not all the other moms. And this truck is special. And I will drive her until Devin can't fix her anymore.(There is really a tear in my eye right now, just imagining that day).Then where ever she dies, I will erect a museum around her in honor of our time together.