The Many Adventures of E!: End of an Era

For the past decade (plus 2 years) Mike has been driving around his little red VW Jetta, otherwise known as Volksie. Volksie had taken us to Florida, home to Chicago at least 25 times, on too many District road trips to even count and last but not least, she drove him to and finally home from Portland, Oregon. I had never seen that car so packed; there was literally not one inch of room left. And so as the years went on, there was Mike, still polishing his pretty red car, not even imagining the day we would need a new one, or even better yet, a bigger one.

Well, in the last year or two, Volskie got a little worn for the wear, as you'd guess, we were spending what would probably even out to be a car payment a month AND, we started to slowly outgrow her. Layla now had to share a backseat with a car seat and there was just no way we'd make the trip home this Christmas with Ethan and Layla. We've seriously been talking about this day we'd go buy our new vehicle -- it was supposed to be August. Then October. All of a sudden it was December. We knew what we wanted, all the research had been done, all the calls were made, we just had one last piece to figure out. What would we do with Volksie?

So, I listed it on Craigs List thinking okay, whatever we'll give it a try. Well, within the first hour we had 5 calls and within 2 hours Mike was meeting 2 people at the gas station to show it. That is exactly how the week continued. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights were spent showing it to prospective buyers and people called, texted and emailed all hours of the day. Literally. Who knew -- Craigs List -- seriously?!

Then this guy from Fargo comes along and loves Volksie so much he wants to take her home that night. We are so not prepared, not to mention we don't pick up the newbie until Friday. It's Wednesday. But, this guy is the perfect new owner for her. He's in a band. He's into jam bands, he loves VWs and he totally gets that we're attached to the little red one. But, the time was right and we sealed the deal. At our kitchen table, drinking a celebratory beer, handing over the keys. It was time for them to go, and we took in the moment by taking our final photo with her, one last drive and tune and naturally, a few tears.

He has the key!