Ode to a Lumina

Yes this is a post about a car, but not just any car, my very first car.

When I turned 16 mom and I went shopping to go get a car for me to drive. This was a family car sure, but I got to be the primary driver and actually have a say in what we would be getting. We came home with a 97 Chevy Lumina. Keep in mind that it was 2000 at the time, so getting a 97 car was a huge deal!
She was emerald green, oh so pretty, and had huge comfy seats. I spent a lot of time in that car and a lot of great memories happened revolving around her.
I recently drove the Lumina when my current car went on hiatus, and loved that 10 years later she was still part of the family. Until today, when she was traded in with dad's truck to buy another truck and now I'm sad (ha, sad over a car, I know).

So let me tell you about some memories involving the Lumina and why I am sad that she is gone (even though it really was time for her to retire)
- When I was 18 I started dating my high school crush. One day I was over at his house and got pissed at him for whatever reason. My friend happened to live across the street and came over to talk with me in the car. Well, we found some ladybug stickers I had and decided the only way to feel better was to cover the car in lady bug stickers. Now I'm not talking 1 or 2. I'm talking a couple hundred lady bugs covering the interior of the car. 10 years later mom was still finding ones randomly under the seat or in the glove box. She did save several for me though :)
- The Lumina has taken me and my family from VA to Wisconsin and back on many occasions. Nothing like 23 hour drives to help with family bonding.
- Spring of 2004 the Lumina took me and 3 of my girlfriends to Daytona Beach Fl. for spring break. The party started the night before however. We were at a friend's house the night before for some bad movies and parked the Lumina in his lot. We went to leave at midnight and guess what, the car would not start. We tried everything, including a mechanic friend who said it sounded like the starter died. Not good when we were taking this car on a 14 hour trip the next morning. Then we decided (how, I don't know) that the Lumina just needed gas. Cue a crazy idea to create a funnel out of a sprite bottle to pour the gas into the car (we were smart...). Safe to say, that did not work. Went back inside and crashed at the friends house. We had an amazing time and it was a great birthday (did I mention this was on my birthday?). The next day we called AAA and sure enough the car just needed gas. It has a little more than 1/4th of a tank but was parked on a slope steep enough to prevent gas from getting to the proper place.
We were off! Within the first 3 miles of the trip I got my first speeding ticket, whatever happened to warnings?
- One summer I slept in the car for a week. I was camping for work and bears were in the area. I just put the seat on recline and slept away.

There are many more, but those are the stories sticking out in my mind right now. I think having the Lumina gone has really been a signal that I've grown up and moved on from where I used to be in life. No more "Earth is Full, Go home" or "Annoy the boring" bumper stickers, no more randomly putting stickers or sleeping in cars just for the hell of it. You would think that getting married, buying a house, the miscarriages, or finances would have jolted the realization that I'm a different, adult type person, but no, it's the trade in of a car.