Mr. C and I celebrated our 7th year of marriage this past weekend. To celebrate the occasion we spent the weekend car shopping because what’s more fun that car shopping? Um….everything! I HATE needles and at one point I commented that I’d rather get my blood taken than go back out. We went to 7 different places and spent 14.5 hours shopping and driving around, not including the hour we spent driving when we realized we forgot something and the 15 minutes the next day when we forgot something else.
Years ago we shopped for Mr. C’s truck and we were clueless. We were young, overwhelmed, and stressed. We didn’t know much and although my parents were with us, I felt like I was the one doing the majority of the negotiating (arguing). I seemed crazy while Mr. C seemed like a nice guy. We shopped around a bit, haggled, bought the truck, and have loved it. I still remember that first ride when we were on a new car (to us) high. The experience could have been better though and we definitely had a lot to learn.
This time around was a bit different. I researched online for too many hours to count. We handled financing ahead of time through our own bank on our own terms. We knew we had some time to make a decision this time around. We made a plan and headed out to search. We were on the same page and we had each other’s back. We looked at each other before answering and we said what we thought. We kept each other from being distracted or confused by everything being thrown at us. We knew what we wanted and we weren't willing to compromise. We were a united front and when someone needed to the outspoken crazy one, we seemed to take turns. One of the dealerships kept cycling managers around to us and I sort of snapped, raised my voice a bit, and sounded a bit crazy (something I don’t typically do in public) and Mr. C backed me up. We talked through each experience and at the end of the weekend we went back to the very first place with the very first car I drove that I loved. I drove it home Monday. Dealing with dealerships is one of my least favorite things, but I loved what it showed me this time around. We’ve been together for over 12 years and married for over 7 now. It’s had its ups and downs like our car buying experience, but we’re at an even better place now than we were then. We’ve learned a lot in general and about each other and we’re a great team because of it.
This weekend wasn’t the most fun, but it was a nice reminder that we’re better together than we’ve ever been apart. We did manage to get in a quiet early morning hike Saturday morning and finished our night off with an amazing dinner at the Melting Pot.
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