For anyone out there interested in keeping track of me, my Grandma has very generously decided to give me her old car, which was actually the main reason for the trip–aside from, y’know, visiting my Grandma. My mom hadn’t visited in a while and as my Grandma very loudly and unabashedly chastised her other daughter over the phone (for not being able to visit while my mom was in town), “Well, the next time they’ll be back will be my funeral.” Gotta hand it to Grammie; she’s got a knack for killing two birds with one passive-aggressive stone.

She also keeps dropping all sorts of little complaints about her new car, referring to it as “my last car before I die.” This, mind you, is the car that replaced the one she’s giving me. She also told her friend, “I pulled the old car out of the driveway for Brendan to vacuum out and, gosh, it’s just a good size for me.” Is my Grandma having buyer’s/seller’s remorse? Thing is, this car is also my ride home…

I’m embarrassed to say that even her old car, a gold (or “champagne” as my Grandma corrected me) is in better condition than either of my parents’ cars. It has 25,000 miles on it, which is amazing for an eight year-old car, but then again my Grandma probably never drove it outside Ann Arbor. That didn’t stop her from putting new tires on it “just in case.” Basically, it’s a great first-car for someone my age, and of course I’m very grateful for her generosity. Granted, I can’t pay for gas or insurance and if given the choice would rather use my dad’s old bike, which I’m trying to give a second life as a fixie. But I guess it’ll be good to have a second car around if/when my sisters or I need it. I wish one of my parents would just agree to take it for now, and maybe that’s what we’ll end up doing. In any event, I’ll be driving it back to Minnesota with my mom tomorrow. I haven’t spent that much time alone with my mom in quite a while, so all things considered it could be an interesting ride.