Goodbye Duct Tape. Hello Sally.

Good riddance.

Whenever I hear this phrase my mind instantly reverts to the Green Day Song "Good Riddance" also commonly referred to as "The Time of Your Life". I know, I know. Green Day is so 1997, but for some reason I love this song, and it makes it on to many a roadtrip playlist in my car.

Maybe I love it because it always concludes the bird show at the Texas State Fair. If you've been, you know what I am talking about, and yes, the bird show is hands down my favorite part of the fair. I think the real reason though is that I love reflecting on life, where it has taken me, and all I have learned from it, and the lyrics do a pretty good job of summing this up.

All that aside, I found myself saying the actual phrase, "good riddance" a few weeks ago as I handed over the keys to my red Liberty and glady signed the title on Sally.

For those of you who have not known me very long, let me give you a brief rundown on the history of my car ownership.

When I turned 16, I inherited a 1995 Dodge Neon that I fondly referred to as "Dentene". No, I do not have an obsession with Dentene wintergreen gum. A couple of years before, a hail storm in Dallas with softball sized hail left it's mark, literally, on hundreds of cars in the metroplex, including Dentene. Dentene got several "marks". In addition to the small craters covering the vehicle, the paint too took a hit in the storm, leaving the car  speckled white. The air conditioner did not work (let me remind you, I lived in Texas), the radio gave out, and the material that once clung to the ceiling hung down if not held up by staples, and even those fell out on the way to school only to be found in my hair during second period. My mom called this car a character builder, and she couldn't have been more right. This may not sound like a dream car to you, but I learned to be thankful to  have a car to get me from one place to another. In that car, I drove by myself to school for the first time and locked my keys in the car at least 15 times (3 of those times it was running). I got in my first wreck...with a stationary car in the culdesac (when I knocked on the man's door to tell him what I had done, he said, "My God will forgive you for what you did," in an ominous voice and shut the door). In the car, I shared laughs, tears, and smiles. It was the first large thing I owned, and I was proud to have it. I learned that makes and models were just names and that I wasn't entitled to a brand new car that I would have no business driving anyways.

Yes, that was me in high school. And there's "Lips". 

Dentene's successor was a 2003 red Jeep Liberty that never received a solid name. I first took to
calling her "Big Red" to keep in line with the chewing gum nuance. In college however, a friend named her "Lips", which frankly just made me uncomfortable, so I tried to forget anyone ever called her that. Name aside,  this car marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I packed her up with all my belongings and moved to Oklahoma in 2007 to a college where I knew no one. It quickly became the home to countless Sonic runs with new friends who would change my life and my path forever. My college roommate and I decided we needed to embroider our names in the driver and passenger seats. We never did, though I wish we had. In that car, I drove to Mississippi, Colorado several times, Florida, Missouri, and Kansas to name a few. There I shared, tears, laughs, belted out "Redneck Woman" with the windows rolled down more times than I can count,  learned that I needed glasses to drive, and switched drivers in a moving vehicle on a road trip (Mom, I'm sorry you had to find out this way). During these years, I learned who I was, what real friendship looked like, how to take ownership of my faith, and began to gain a vision of what God wanted my life to look like. In 2011, I packed up the Liberty one last time and moved to Tulsa, my current home. As I drove away and looked in the rear view, I shed tears for all I was leaving behind, the people, the memories, the life lessons, and the moments. I then shed more for the new, unknown road ahead.

My life quickly began to flourish in Tulsa, but the Liberty's began to decline. The gears shifted on their own when the temperature dropped below 32 degrees, and the only way to roll up the back window was with an excessive ammount of extra strength duct tape. It was time.

Meet Sally. Yes, I named my car after a Pixar character.

After months of searching, I found Sally, and the rest was history. On the way to the dealership to
trade in the Liberty for my light blue Hyundai, I told someone I was taking my last drive in the Liberty. I then said it. "Good Riddance". They emplored me that my words were a bit harsh and that I should cherish the old while embracing the new. At that moment, all I could think about was handing over my keys for a set of new ones. When the time came to switch, and I sat down in my "new" compact car, I began to reflect. Surprised?

There I was sitting in a parking lot. I had almost lived in Tulsa for two full years. As I looked ahead at Tulsa, Oklahoma, there were no longer tears in my eyes. What was once new and unknown was now a life that I love and look forward to each and every day. My life was full of people, experiences, thoughts, and beliefs that weren't even a flicker in my mind when I made that drive in my Liberty two years earlier. The things that were once new and unknown are now some of the things I consider to be the biggest blessings in my life today.

Looking out my windshield, I began to realize that I look forward to the "new and unknown" in front of me in the next moments, days, months and years. The world is full of open road, books to read, stories to hear, adventures to have, people to meet, and lessons to learn.

Going into the unknown though, I am not empty handed. My hands and my heart are full of a past with people who have loved me and I them, experiences, memories, heartache, and joy. The things I have left behind have not really left me at all. They are the very make-up of who I am and lay their fingerprint on each decision I make and each step I take. God created that fingerprint just for me. He orchestrated every line, curve, twist and turn. He knew who I needed to be to make the decisions I have to make today and set me on the path to get here.

My fingerprint is unique and so is the road that God will send me on today and every day in the future to create the print He wants me to leave on the world.

No matter what I drive, where I live, or where I am employed, I know that God is using each moment in my life to shape and mold my mind and my life. Even better, He gives me a choice. I can discount the experiences I have or I can see them for what they truly are. Beautiful. These moments of my life aren't beautiful because they are full of glamor and perfection. That's not true at all. These moments, the good and the bad, are beautiful because they have made me who I am today and have kept me moving, growing, and changing, writing the pages of my life story.

I am learning that Green Day songs are better left for the bird show anyhow. Many things are good, but I don't think "riddance" is one of them. There are a few things that are though. Good Life. Good Memories. Good Savior. Great and endless possibilities.