My 1999 Honda Civic

My car is 10 years old. It's got 210,000 (two hundred and ten THOUSAND) miles on it. And it broke on Monday.

The story of the breakdown is dramatic and ugly. It's not a night Chris and I want to remember. I was stranded across town in my car for 7 hours until Chris rescued me at 3:30am. Cell phones & schedules failed us that night.

But most importantly my car failed us.

The little red Honda Civic has been so, so faithful for the past 10 years. It was the first major purchase I made after I graduated from college. It got me from my little apartment in Conroe, Texas to my first professional job in The Woodlands. I remember the night it hailed and the car got its first dents. It was with me for the next 5 years while I lived in Arlington, Texas. It reliably took me all over the metroplex and all over Texas (on more than a few trips to Austin). Then it took me to Phoenix, Arizona. It was that first year in Phoenix that in a parking lot, I backed into a truck that was also backing up. I was so sad about the crack in the bumper but ultimately decided not to fix a blemish on a 7 year old car. In my first year in here, I often dreamt about buying a fancy new car, but then I went to India. So I drove this one for another 3 years. This whole time, it's been so dependable despite the intense summer heat here.

But this latest breakdown (on top of the one last month) is making me think that it's time to say goodbye to this little car. No one wants to pour money into something that's just going to break again. Chris and I weren't planning on buying a replacement until he graduated from college in 2 years, but I'm not sure we can (or want to) keep the Civic hobbling along until then.

One of my life dreams is being a one car family. Going car light. Could we do it?

The more I think about it, the more I think this is the time to try. It seems like it won't be that big of a stretch for us. Chris and I are already carpooling some and really enjoy the time together. The weather in Phoenix is turning cooler and it's the perfect time of year to be outside (and will be for the next 7 months). So why not?

We're throwing around the idea of a 4 week trial run to see if we can handle life with only one car. (Specifically life with a Mini Cooper as the only car.) We know it will mean we both will be inconvenienced far more than we are now. But hopefully there's a bright side which is we'll be on our bikes more, getting more exercise, enjoying the city more, and saving money. I know this weekend we'll be talking about this a lot and going through all the logistics. I'm suspect we'll give the one-car life a try. Updates to come.

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