And that DREAM is a....
That's RIGHT! Jenn got her SUBURBAN!!! (Giddy-up!)
Why? I'm not really sure, actually. It all just happened kind of suddenly ;)
About a month ago, we were driving back from a Christmas concert in Vancouver and I saw a suburban pass Jared on the left. It was just a suburban. Nothing flashy about it, even though I do a double-take and a slight drool whenever I see one. But it caught my extra attention. And then I dreamily wondered how long it might be before I could entertain the thought of owning one myself.
Christmas came and went and out of the blue Jared half jokingly commented we might need the cargo space of a suburban before long. (He told me later he was VERY hesitant about saying anything to me about it since I'm such a tight wad--even when it's purely hypothetical). But much to his surprise I replied, "That's funny because I was sort of thinking the same thing."
The next day, my yahoo inbox was INUNDATED with emails with the subject heading "Jared wants you to look at a Chevrolet Suburban on autotrader.com" or the like.
Out of the first batch he sent me, I saw two that I liked. They were both 2007s with similar mileage. One was over $30,000 and the other was a little under. I liked the expensive one because it had more "bells and whistles" than the other (like leather interior--which I didn't want, a DVD player--which the kids would love, an MP3 player, sunroof, remote starter, flex fuel, power-everything, etc.)
A week went by and we talked a little about when we should start looking more seriously at the suburbans, talk to the dealers, etc. Maybe after Valentine's day. We talked about the timing of selling the car, etc.
More craigslist and autotrader emails appeared in my inbox.
Sunday, during second hour, when I was making my rounds, Jared found me as he was pow-wowing with some of the young men leaders and said that the priests advisor was willing to bring his suburban over after church to see if it fit in our garage. Dead serious! I told Jared one stinky thing about getting a suburban is that I'd lose the garage because we had already found the measurements online and the length was wall-to-garage door with no room to breath. Even still, we really wanted to get an actual suburban to come test out our garage space. Blaine was willing to do it. And it FIT! Oh, it was tight, alright. But the garage door closed! Jared and I both did a BIG 'OL happy dance the rest of the day! (Thanks Blaine!)
Then on Tuesday, I went to the temple with our friends whose son is getting ready to go on his mission. Jared was going to meet us there after work. As the room started filling up, Jared didn't show. I knew it was a distinct possibility that he wouldn't make it with last minute things that sometimes pop up at the office and that was fine. Before the session started, I had the fleeting thought "I hope Jared goes and talks to some dealers if he can't make it tonight." It seemed hardly the thing I should be thinking about it in the temple. Shame on me. Fortunately I was able to focus my thoughts the rest of the time.
When I got home a little before 10pm, Jared told me what he did when he knew he wasn't going to make the session. He went to one of the dealers nearby! We got a kick out of that. It's actually been FREAKISH the way he and I have been thinking almost the same things at the same time--about something BIG like this--not just movie quotes that fit a certain situation.
The dealer he spoke to said that we'd be hard-pressed to find a 2007 'burb under $30,000 and they talked a little more business.
Right before going to bed, we checked the suburban we'd been "watching" online and we were FLOORED to see the price had been REDUCED below $30,000! We looked at each other and knew we had to act fast on this.
More things fell into place...it was mutual night, but it was a combined activity and Jared's quorum was not in charge, so it was an okay time for him not to be there. The activity sounded really cool, however and I was sad he was missing it. And then he had to ask his 1st counselor to fill in for him at BYC. (*cringe*...sorry Zach!) I guess that's what counselors are for, but it seemed really selfish! And even though it was mutual night and all our youth babysitters would be at church, our friend Kyle (who was endowed the day before) was home and could babysit for us!
We left at 6:15 and headed to Milwaukie...a new destination experience for the both of us. Thank goodness for the new GPS we just got.
When we arrived at 7pm, Brandi (the internet coordinator who I had talked to umpteen times on the phone during the day when I was getting the skinny on their inventory, making an appt., running numbers and filling out a credit request, etc.) had the suburban already "on deck" for us to look at and drive. I was so nervous getting behind the wheel of that thing. Fortunately, there were ONLY right turns involved!
I think we already knew we were going to buy the burb. We just didn't want to get it sight unseen. Jared even asked why they priced it so low (relatively speaking of course). She said people are buying Tahoes now, not the suburbans. It had been sitting since September. I guess that's a long time in the car business hence the big mark down.
Long story short, the dealer lost some money on the deal, we have a car payment again that we haven't had in YEARS (ugh). But we have a big rig in our garage and it just so happens to be MY DREAM CAR!
After we left the dealer, we went to dinner and I called my parents to tell them about the "irresponsible" thing we had done (we've only bought vehicles out of sheer desperation...we've never had the luxury of looking for one and buying one because we can put it to good use). They were excited for us...even more happy that we won't have to take two cars when they come to visit. Then my mom asked me what color it was.
I have this thing about car colors...we can't get away from red or any hue or shade of red. I married into a red car that Jared had when he got off his mission, we got a burgandy car after that. When we had to get the van, Jared promised me it wouldn't be red. It's burgandy too. Needless to say, I've been giving him flack for that ever since. I am happy to announce that my suburban is "graystone metallic" and I love it.
(See?? It's so big I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing!)
I asked Jared yesterday about the first time he got the fleeting thought about getting a suburban. He said he saw a suburban drive past us on our way home from the Christmas concert in Vancouver and it just came to him.
I think this suburban was meant for us.
