2 months and counting!

[lovinglyworn]

Hi all!

I am brand new to this corner of the web and am the increasingly pleased owner of a 2009 Journey SXT AWD in Deep Water Blue Pearl.

Our Journey took it's place in our driveway after I returned to work in June after spending 4 months home on maternity leave with our new baby girl, Lily. I had been the very proud owner of a white 2003 Toyota Celica GT for five years and had no intention of giving it up until it literally fell apart.

Well, after two weeks back at work, I knew I had to do something. I was trying yet again to put Lily in her car seat in my Celica and after struggling to get INTO the back seats (2 door hatchback with bucket seats - fun times) with Lily in my arms, I finally managed to get into the seat and subsequently lifted her up a little too high, bonking her poor little head on the roof of the car.

Needless to say, Lily was not pleased and I, of course, felt like a member of the Bad Mommies Club.

My husband and I had been talking about getting something larger for some time, and we had agreed to pursue it NEXT summer, but after two weeks of struggling and actually hurting our daughter, I talked to him again and said we really needed to do something.

I'd remembered seeing the original Journey commercials last year and talking to him about it. I pulled up Dodge's website and we tinkered around on the internet for probably 2 hours at least, reading all about it and using comparison sites to compare it to other models. His dad owns a Mitsubishi Outlander, which has worked great for them, but it doesn't have 3rd row seating or the rear heating and cooling system, but otherwise it's a great car, so we wanted something comparable to that. We agreed that the Journey was a car worth checking out and we could only agree on two colors - Deep Water Blue and Melbourne Green.

We casually drove to our local Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership, as their website listed two SXTs - but no color. I spotted them right away. One was white, and the other was Deep Water Blue.

We took it for a test drive and it handled beautifully. We eagerly flipped open each and every compartment, raised and lowered the seats, and played with every dial and button.

We were sold.

Now comes the cheesy part - I literally cried in the car dealership when I gave them the keys to my Celica. As silly as it may sound, that was my dream car, and I loved how I felt driving it. My life had become so crazy and unpredictable with the arrival of our baby, and I had just returned to my very high stress job (I work for Child Welfare as a caseworker), and my Celica was the only real "comfort zone" I had. It was the last remaining part of my fun-loving, stress-free days, and when everything else was chaos and confusion, I could slip into my Celica, open the moonroof, turn up the volume on one of my mix CDs and it just felt so comfortable. The dealer still has it for sale and when I see it, I tear up because I miss it. I wish someone would buy it and move away so I wouldn't have to see it anymore. I want someone to enjoy it as much as I did, but at the same time, I don't want to see it because I get this temptation to try to buy it again.

But I knew that the car was just about as UN-practical as they come. And I knew that life wasn't about ME anymore, but it was about our family and what was best for our daughter. I would drive a bus if it meant she was comfortable and safe. I know it was the right decision.

But it still wasn't easy

Sooooo...I now drive my Journey and while I must say I am getting quite attached, every once in awhile I like reading other people gush about their Journeys to help remind me that this really was the best decision, and to remind me that I do have a great car

I don't have a photo of it at the moment, but I'm sure everyone has seen what this particular model looks like! But I would instead like to share a picture of our munchkin, Lily, now 6 months old, already practicing driving it!

She's quite pleased with it