The Universe is an amazing thing when you allow the energy to flow! Back in 2007 for Valentine’s Day, I felt the urge to stop at the local car dealership and check out the Jeeps. Now I had previously owned one, but it had been quite a few years and it was when Jeep had just recently went back to the round headlamps on the Wranglers as opposed to the square ones. I had met with a salesman who offered me the opportunity to take one home for the weekend to see how I felt about it. This one in particular was an automatic and my belief was, if you are gonna own a jeep, it needs to be manual. With that being said, I took it back and I proceeded with the “I want to own another Jeep” quest. The next one that I came across was one that was previously owned by a local dealership’s son and he didn’t like it so therefore, it only had 50 miles on it. Oh and did I mention it was a 6-speed and had a soft top, which would allow me to take the top on and off with little to no assistance. After a quick spin around the block, I knew that this was the one.
At this point in my life, I had never purchased or leased a vehicle without help. This was the first time (really felt like an adult). After the kindness of the salesman (I really wish I could remember his name, as he was so very sweet), and a lot of signatures, I drove off with this new-used vehicle that I referred to as my happy place. Now the reason behind this definition is because I loved driving it. I loved adding my little touches to it. I loved the Jeep wave. I loved the ease of being able to take the top off at the spur of the moment. I loved thinking I was a bad-ass driving a six-speed, and I loved the way it looked. I always felt like it was a form of an escape.
As time would have it, I would own other vehicles, but the one that I stated I would never get rid of was…my Jeep. Numerous friends and family members had asked me when was I going to get rid of it as the miles began to creep up on it and you know how it goes, vehicles begin to take more than they give in return, but not my jeep. It was my happy place. I had talked about selling it, talked about trading it in for something else, talked about just looking for something else, but just never could do it. Fast forward to this past Wednesday. I was getting ready to leave the shop and knew that I needed to get gas, I was on E which in my world, stands for enough and truly debated driving home and getting gas in the morning. As I was getting ready to make a left to head towards home, something told me to switch over in the right hand lane and go get gas. So I did. The attendant (no, I don’t normally pump my own gas lol) started up a conversation with me regarding my Jeep and before I knew it, asked me if it was for sale, and I responded with YES!!!
Thursday evening I emptied out my Jeep and as I left my home Friday morning, I knew that it was the last time that the Jeep was going to be leaving that driveway. As I ventured on my 20 minute ride, I reminisced about the memories that were made, the concerts that it went too, the times that the kids would ride in the back with blankets because the temperature had dropped so fast, the video that I made with my neighbor to enter into a contest, taking my niece for ice cream, different people getting in an out of the jeep and always looking for a handle that was never there, the times that I would decide to take the top off and not a cloud in the sky would bring a torrential downpour. The list goes on and on, but as I reflected on the vehicle that I referred to for 14 years as my happy place, I realized that I no longer needed that Jeep to be my happy place, because the happy place was within me. As I began this blog, I stated that the Universe is a funny thing sometimes…it truly knew that I was ready to finally not only realize, but feel it and that is why I made a right-hand turn to go get gas instead of making a left to go home. The Universe knew that time was right……..