On Saturday I officially donated my car to NPR. It's something I've been wanting to do since I bought my Prius. The Volvo will be sold at auction and then NPR will send me documentation of what it sold for (I have no idea what to expect! $200? $1,000? We'll see...) and I can claim that amount as a charitable deduction on my 2012 taxes. I'm very glad to be able to support an organization that is so dear to my heart and frankly it just made getting rid of the car so easy!

As my car was being towed away on Saturday I was more emotional that I expected! Everything kind of happened fast because I was at my in-laws when the guy from the tow company called to say he'd be by in 30 minutes. I had just enough time to clean out the car and take off my Texas-Exes licence plate frame when the tow truck showed up.

I had to sign some paper work and then they were pushing my car out of the garage (the battery is dead) and loading it on the tow truck. Even though the car has given me headaches over the past few years, for the majority of the 8 years I've had the car it's done great. It took me from Austin all the way to Connecticut for graduate school. I explored the northeast in that car and took trips to Boston, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maryland. And then it brought me out to Arizona and to the incredibly happy life I have with Chris.

One of the most memorable Volvo stories is the drive from Connecticut to Arizona. Or the circumstances of the drive. After I graduated Chris and I were set to road trip together to Arizona, where we'd be living together for the first time. It was so exciting! But two nights before we were set to leave New Haven someone broke into my car using a chunk of concrete to bash out the drivers' side window and stole my CD player. It felt like New Haven was giving me the finger. Good riddance indeed!

Since it was a Sunday we couldn't find anyone to fix the window, it was so stressful. Oh, and it was starting to rain. Chris came to the rescue and cut a replacement "window" from a sheet of thick plastic from Home Depot and duct taped it into the window hole. It's probably still one of Chris's proudest "handy" moments. And it was a really great window. With the plastic window in place we were able to leave on time from New Have and drove with it all the way to Knoxville, TN where we stayed with family and were finally able to get the window replaced. And we made it all the way to Austin without a stereo. Amazingly, we hadn't even missed it. We were so excited to be together for good after being long distance for seven months that we had plenty to talk about. It was such a fun journey and start of a new chapter in both of our lives and I love that even though it seemed ill-fated we made the best of it. Oh, Volvo. 

Goodbyes are always a bit hard, even if it's to your car that gave you so many headaches. But there were some good times and plenty of good miles too. Thanks Volvo and goodbye, old friend!