Ode to my 2001 Ford Focus ZX3

After 8 years and almost 4 months, I traded in my wonderful Focus. I was so very sad. There are so many memories I have with my car.

I bought that car brand new when I worked at Velde Ford on December 28, 2000.
I had so many people stop and talk to me about my car when I first got it! I was so proud when old, grumpy looking Harley bikers would stop at traffic lights to compliment my car and talk gas milage with me!
The Focus commuted me to both ICC and ISU.
It drove me and Nena to visit Mel at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, driving up to 90MPH when a gigantic MAC semi-truck was on our tails and we couldn't get away from it.
The Focus was the "family" car when we had Ebeth. She spent her entire life being carted around back and forth in the backseat behind me!
It drove through the great flood of 2003, when all of 14th street was flooded, but I had to get me and baby Elisabeth home safely.
I remember Elisabeth singing at the top of her lungs to The Dixie Chicks' "FLY" album for almost a full year.
It made countless trips to Chicago, even getting it's right side mirror bumped off in a garage parking lot accident (shut-up Evan).
It took Evan to Alabama for his Air Force training.

Sure, it had it's flaws...like the passenger seat didn't fold up anymore because one hellishly cold night, Jana kicked off the handle trying to get out from the backseat. And, there was nothing (Nothing.) powered about it. And, when the body shop guys fixed the side mirror after the garage parking incident, they put it back on a little skewed, so the window would get caught on the mirror's corner when you rolled it back up. Oh, and when we moved back to Pekin before Evan left for Alabama, the heat went out. And when Evan was in Alabama, the air conditioning went out. Oh, how I love my Focus!

But, we're moving to Colorado, and we don't think the Focus would make the trip safely. Plus, we've added a family member who's never even been in the car (poor Julala). So, on April 23, 2009, I officially said good-bye to my beloved car. I even had the manager take our picture next to it for the last time (which Evan was sure to tell me was probably the first time that the manager'd been asked to take a picture of customers and the car they were trading in).

And welcomed our new 2008 Taurus SEL. It is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has power EVERYTHING!!!! It has a ridiculously enormous trunk, leather seats, so many cup holders that Ebeth can have 3 drinks on any given car trip, enough leg room for giraffe to comfortably sit in the back, and a rather powerful engine!!! Evan is taking it to CO, but it really is my new car!