Old Car New Car

I try not to be vain. I really do. But now that our GMC Yukon is finally paid for, it is old. And I don't like it.

The carpet in the back is irreparably stained from a Costco Berry Smoothie. Have you ever had one? Mmmmm they are great! But not when spilled all over the carpet of your car. The guy at SuperSonic Car Wash shook his head in defeat when I brought it in for a cleaning.

The passenger side door features a scratched paint mural that D2 created with a saw when she was three. No, I have no idea what my three year-old was doing unsupervised with a saw. While its abstract nature vaguely resembles one of Chewy's pieces, it has no place on my car door.

And the windshield has more chips than a bag of Doritos.

It isn't as bad as the old Mercury DH had a couple years ago, but it is much closer to the oxidized Mercury Sable than the 2007 Lexus LX470 that I'd really like to own.

Like most of our cars, DH bought the old blue Mercury through a "deal" from a friend. For $600 he was thrilled to have a car to put a ton of miles on with all the driving he was doing between restaurants. So he sold his fine German-manufactured automobile and insisted he didn't care what people thought when seeing him drive around in that car.

I, on the other hand...call me crazy, but I cared. However, with gas prices creeping upward, and my growing concern for the environment, even I was occasionally tempted to drive the old blue Sable instead of the Yukon for errands around town. And I enjoyed the irony that when it was loaded with goods from Costco, the car's value doubled.

One day I had driven the Blue Beast to run errands. As I was driving in a parking lot, I saw a friend that I had not seen for over a year. She is the kind of woman that has never been spotted without perfect hair, clothes, jewelry and makeup. Even her children, dog and husband are immaculately groomed. As she drove by in her brand new champagne colored SUV, I waved. She didn't seem to see me, so I waved bigger. She still didn't seem to recognize me.

Then reality struck and I immediately understood why she did not notice me. She probably falsely assumed none of her friends drive 1986 Mercury Sables that barely run, so she did not give me a second glance.

DH's Mercury finally gave out and we replaced it with a new, gas efficient little number. But how long will I hold out before buying a new family car?

DH says we should drive the Yukon until the kids are grown, since it is already broken in. I might be okay with that plan, if we hadn't started over with having a child last summer.

However, even if I could afford the Lexus LX470, how would it look in a couple years, when D3 finds the saw D2 used and creates her own Chewy-like masterpiece on the car door?