giving

D & his little corolla. don't mind his crazy hair, he's really due for a haircut

as you all know, last year was the big year of car trouble for me. after my car died, D was kind enough to share his ride with me. Then one too many drives over the huge hilly area to get to my parents' house did the poor car in. so for two months we lived without a car. not such a terrible feat as you'd imagine. yes, it was hard trying to go to the grocery store, so honestly we ate out a lot. our diet went back to eating crappy food, thus we felt crappy all the time.  everyone not in southern california reading this is probably rolling their eyes at me right now. so what if you didn't have a car!? let me explain something, southern california does not have an excellent public transportation system and it's all solely because everything in SoCal is so far from each other. yes, it's quick and convenient when you get on the freeway you can get from point A to point B, but when you're on the bus, you'll have to connect to another bus or another train and then another bus. also every county has a different bus system. but these two months of having to ride public transportation has really changed us. we have learned to appreciate the little things, like a beautiful sunrise on the walk to the bus stop, or to be super grateful to have a vehicle when it rains, or even grateful to just be able to buy groceries.

so this past week D bought a new car and he's really happy about it. i'm really happy that's he's such a great guy and is willing to give me rides when he can and we're both really happy we can start eating better again. i'm not sure when i'll be ready to drive again, after the accident i was in december driving my friend's car, i don't think i'm in a good state of mind to drive myself anywhere for a while. but that's okay because i don't mind riding the bus (i only get cranky when it takes more than two hours to get somewhere, anything under an hour i'm totally okay) and i've found out a way to use the metrolink to cut my time. plus i have great friends who are willing to give me rides places and now D has a car so he can pitch in too. i'm so lucky.

so, since we were told it would be too expensive to fix the transmission on the corolla, and D got a new car, we decided it was best if we donated the corolla to a foundation whose cause we felt closely connected to. last year, D was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease that to this day does not have a cure, and it's been pretty hard dealing with it. especially at first when doctor's told us there was a possibility of it being Chron's. thankfully, it wasn't, and now we are doing things like changing our diet so that D doesn't experience flare-ups. anyway, we decided to donate the car to the CCFA, Chron's & Colitis Foundation of America to help fund research, etc. D has had this car since 1999 when he got it at the dealership. he paid for it without any help from anyone, and he has good memories with friends who are long gone in it, so it was really hard for him to let it go. but, in the end, i'm pretty sure we made the right decision.

starting off our goal of giving back to the universe on a good note i think!