I want to say that my 1999 Volkswagen Jetta is the first brand new car I ever purchased, but that isn’t the case. I bought a brand new ‘98 Jetta, and someone totaled it after I had only owned it for two months. A moron at USAA kept losing all of my paperwork to get the car replaced, and I finally just got mad and made them send me a check. I used my even older Jetta for a little while - my very first car - an ‘87 Jetta in the typical Williams family brown. Strangely, all of our cars back then were brown, and we weren’t sure why. We figured Dad just had really good luck with brown cars or something. Eventually I decided to go for a ‘99 Jetta - the first year that they had come out with the new body style. It was a very basic car, and I didn’t negotiate on the price at all… in fact, somehow they managed to tack on even more money, and I never even noticed. I paid way too much money for that car.

The most memorable experience in the Jetta was when my friend, Liz, and I drove it to Montana for a week long vacation at Glacier National Park. I had only owned the car for three months and I was ready to make use of it. While we were there, Liz was sitting in the passenger seat and accidentally spilled her latte all on the upholstery. I was a little irritated, but then the very next day, the roles reversed - Liz was driving, and I spilled my latte all over the same passenger seat. I could never quite get the latte out of the car seat, so the stain pretty much remained for the next ten years. Aside from that, it was a great trip. We even met a young man who we shared a meal with and, because we’re weird, we talked to him about Jesus. It seemed that he had some problems in his past church experience, and wanted nothing to do with religion anymore. We kindly reminded him that it’s typical for people to screw up because we’re human and we do things that hurt others, even for the sake of Jesus. But we shouldn’t penalize God or the relationship He wants to have with us because people are hurtful. Everyone has had a bad experience in the church, I don’t care who you are. Anyone who has been in the church at least a little bit has a story that really sucks. I don’t know why it happens, or why it hurts more when it happens in a church setting. I have theories, but it would take too long to get into them. The important thing is not to neglect our relationship with God because of whatever happened.

I don’t know whatever happened to that young man, but I still think of him at times and hope that he is OK.

Since then, the Jetta has driven all over, even across the country, and it’s lived a good life. Tom and I chose a new 2009 Toyota Corolla, dark gray, with moonroof. We picked it up last night and I gave them the key to my Jetta. As we drove away in the new car, I couldn’t help but notice that they had already taken my Jetta away, and I remembered all of the good times I had in that car.

I got over it as soon as I pulled out of the parking lot. Did I mention my new car has a moonroof? LOL