Goodbye, Tempest

Our VW Jetta SportsWagen, the day we bought it

As of last evening, we no longer own a car.

One of the most important things we had to do before we moved was to make sure we sold our car to pay off the loan that remains on it. Thankfully, our good friends, Dan and Wendy were on the market for a new car and bought it from us. The papers were signed yesterday and the car now officially belongs to them. But being the fantastic people that they are, they're letting us drive it till our last day in Ann Arbor- told you they're fantastic :)

We love our car-- Tempest, as Sophie affectionately calls it (after its color, Tempest blue). We've never owned a brand new car before this and it took a lot of shopping, researching, and bargaining (mostly on Jude's part) before we settled on a Volkswagen Jetta SportsWagen. And it's one of the best purchases we've ever made. Driving-- whether it's just around town or road trips to Chicago-- has never been more enjoyable thanks to the smooth ride, built-in SiriusXM satellite radio, and the assurance that it's probably the safest car there is on the market.

Sophie sometimes even talks about Tempest like it's a part of the family-- asking whether it needs gas, "telling" it to take us places, "thanking" it for protecting her from the rain and wind outside, and "apologizing" to it whenever she spills something in the car. We just told her that Dan and Wendy are "helping us take care of Tempest" when we're in Singapore (I don't think she quite grasps the intricacies of buying and selling yet) and I think it comforts her somewhat- "Now Tempest will take Julianne and Tobin (their kids) to the store too!", she says :)

We've been casually looking at cars in Singapore and considering whether or not we can afford one. And it doesn't look like we can, not immediately anyway. Cars are obscenely expensive back home; besides, we couldn't buy a model like Tempest even if we could afford to- the VW Jetta SportsWagen is not available in Asia. We've always loved VWs and now that we've been spoiled by having actually owned one, it's going to be hard finding a car that we'll (Sophie included) love just as much... :(