My Jeep

You know I try not to fall in with material possessions in this blog.  Today I will make an exception for my 13-year-old Jeep Liberty.  It's a 2002 model, but I remember quite well the day I took delivery of it in September of 2001.  Why?  Because it was the day after 9/11, and I wondered if I should be buying a new car if, indeed, the world was going to end.

But I completed the purchase.  And now, very close to 13 years and 106,000 miles later, it has become one of the best purchases I ever made.

The Liberty had just come out in the spring of 2001.  Pete caught a glimpse of one at the Jeep dealership on his way home from work, and said, "Terry, that car is you."  Turns out he was right.  But it's not so much the Jeep itself that I am in love with, but rather, what that Jeep has done for me.

When the Jeep stopped being "new" in late summer 2004, it began its work.  Moving my oldest daughter to her college in Annapolis, Maryland, was its first assignment.  Over the years that Katrina went to school and then worked in the Annapolis / DC area, that Jeep made a gazillion trips, many of them to move furniture and belongings from one place to another.  I am an excellent packer, and I filled that Jeep with more than you could possibly imagine.

But the Jeep was doing double duty at the time.  There were trips to Saratoga Springs where Jenna went to school, though not as many.  And as soon as Jenna graduated, Sam was off to school in Burlington, Vermont.  More moving stuff.

And after Sam's graduation, just when you might think that the Jeep could retire, there's another job assignment.  Jenna is moving to Brattleboro, Vermont, this week, and as I am writing this, both her car and my Jeep are sitting in the driveway bursting with her belongings.  We will both drive up tomorrow and unload all of it, then return home.  On Friday, Jenna and her cat move up to stay.

I promised her I will come visit in October.  I have a feeling that by then, she will have thought of all the things she forgot, and instead of my little VW Eos, I will need to pack up the Jeep for my visit.  Although both of us might be moaning and groaning with age, we will get the job done.

Only in a Jeep.