Poor Big Red

Big Red has been apart of our family for 20 years now.

Alayna and I were on our way to school this morning when one of our neighbors, who also happens to be in Jared and my Sunday School class and just got her license less than two weeks ago, didn’t see us and hit us.

Thankfully everyone is ok. She was really shaken up and she felt terrible about the whole thing. I just kept reminding her that the important thing is that no one was hurt. Cars can be fixed or replaced.

I was surprised at how much damage there was. She was just pulling out from a stop so she couldn’t have been going more than 5-10 mph. I think her front bumper must have caught just right or something.

We’ve been saving up and looking into getting a new car. We just thought we had a little more time. We’d been looking around to see what we could get since the car industry is still recovering from chip shortages and supply issues from COVID.

Big Red has been good to us but she’s starting to need too many repairs. She needs motor mounts, lower control arms are broken both sides, front struts, oil leak, no ABS, the a/c is either off or on full blast, the windshield wipers make a terrible groaning sound when they move back and forth and the headliner inside is being held up by push pins LOL! It needs shocks, and the trunk supports that lift up the trunk door are broken. I use a fancy shower curtain rod to hold it open for me! 😂😂😂 She’s definitely seen better days….

Our mechanic before the accident said it’d be at least a few thousand dollars to get her running the way she should again. And now with this damage it will cost even more to repair. The collision center quoted another $4,545 on top of everything else going on with her. Which is definitely more than the vehicle is worth. So we have moved up our timeline on purchasing something.

I will be SO SAD to see her go. She’s like another member of the family. We’ve made so many memories over the years!

All of our family and friends recognize her when we are out and about driving around town. We have people send us pictures saying they spotted us! It’s so fun and makes us all laugh!!! She’s famous! Haha!!

I’ll end the post with some snapshots throughout the years. She’s been with us since Walker was just a year old. She’s been there when we brought Alayna and Eli home from the hospital, 3 dogs, lots of Disney trips, a couple of fender benders, Jr. High dances, a plethora of orthodontics visits, camping trips, birthday celebrations, first time drivers, many games of 007, approximately a billion drop-off and pick-ups from school, church, band, soccer, football, and volleyball practices, Eagle Scout projects, Trunk-or- Treats and every holiday and birthday, snow trips, drive-thru picnics in parking lots, trips to Utah, California, Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada, Young Women camps, Young Men white water rafting excursions, High School Grad trips with friends, Slurpee runs, summer swim lessons, endless playdates at the park, lots of talks and plans about the future, many heart to hearts with each of the kids, tears and laughs and everything in between. It’s been a great ride Big Red! Thanks for keeping us safe!

I’ll of course keep you posted when we purchase a new vehicle. She has some big shoes to fill! 😉