Jeepers My Liberty is Ticking Me Off!

I've owned three vehicles in my life.  First came my precious green 1998 Ford Explorer bought for my 16th birthday.  I remember coming home from basketball practice and my mom opened the garage door and viola!  A shiny SUV all for me.  I remember peeking inside the windows before running inside to hug my dad and ask for the keys.  Emily the Explorer was so good to me.  I named her after my 7th grade science teacher who named her Durango, "Deidra."

 

Ah the classic "I just turned 16 and my parents are making me take pics with my car"

Next came Lorelai the Liberty.  A silver 2004 beauty.  So cute and maneuverable and just as wonderful as the Gilmore Girls character, I vowed to always keep Jeeps at the top of my list.  Poor Lorelai went home to car heaven after a semi rear-ended her when my dad was driving her.  I was studying abroad in Germany at the time and terrified when I heard my dad was life-flighted back to Tulsa and in intensive care for a few days.  He pulled through, Thank You Jesus, and is now fully recovered 3 years later.

With the high school best friends... getting back together over the summer to float down the Tahlequah River! Leslie, Me, Miranda & Hannah

When I got home, we went shopping to replace dear Lorelai, but had the hardest time.  My dad and I couldn't find the right deal and couldn't agree on anything.  Finally we found a blue Liberty that we had to settle for because I was going back to school and we couldn't trade off cars anymore.  First mistake. I haven't even named this Jeep because I've never gotten emotionally attached.  I got her checked out about 2 weeks before I got married to make sure everything was in tip-top shape to make the move to South Carolina.

With Daniel, Emily and Jordan crossing Lake Champlain into Vermont on the car ferry.

Daniel and I got home from our honeymoon to find all our presents packed into my dad's Grand Cherokee.   My dad wanted to surprise us with new tires for the Liberty when subsequently he found something wrong with it.  The engine had to be REPLACED!  It was covered under warranty, but would take almost 2 weeks to be fixed, and Daniel had to report in South Carolina.  We traded them back 6 months later, but since then has been a string of unfortunate events and brought us to the decision to trade-in the Liberty.  Daniel will soon be getting deployed, so I'll drive his souped-up sports car until he gets back.

Then hopefully I'll have found a suitable replacement... and find the love that I first found in Emily.