Ford Explorer XLT

October 30, 2008Last night, we drove home our first 4 x 4. Isn’t it great? Being young, and enjoying your life?

When I was in high school I often envied my classmates who would come to our school with their Dads driving a car, while early morning, me and my siblings either walk our way to school or if we’re lucky, Dad sends us through the tricycle (3- wheeled motorcycle with passenger seat).  

That wasn’t very cool, though.  Until my parents decided to buy a second hand owner type jeep.   

My university days came.  My first 2 best friends were Jasen and Jenny.  Jasen came from a rich Chinese family, and she comes to school with a super red Toyota Corolla.  I used to teach her with our assignments (often do projects for her too), and she would pick me up from my boarding house in Sampaloc.  

Some nights, she would call me before midnight to stroll around the city with her. I remember when she brought me and Jenny to the her car race team in San Juan where I saw most college guys displaying their cars, talking about nothing except CARS.  I stared at them in awe (wishing I could have a boyfriend with a nice sporty car too.) All my neighbors look at me and Jasen whenever she comes with her hot wheels to give me a ride to school, and I often made sure that I looked proud to be riding with her.  That was pretty cool. 

When I graduated and finally landed a job in Makati .  I met a lot of guys, but in my mind, I wanted to have a boyfriend who owns a car.  While I did not find one, I remained single. When I got a teaching job in Adamson University while enrolled in my Masteral study at CEU at the same time, my priorities changed, or at least I could say, I gave up trying to have a handsome boyfriend with his own “handsome” car.  

Why should I wait for that perfect guy anyway? I thought I had to save more money so I could buy myself my own dream car-  a black F150. How often did I imaginemyself driving my own big truck and stir jealousy in the street, I could not really say. I was studying in the Graduate school, while I teach full time in a college of Pharmacy .

I also had another part time job in Makati .  I though I would be able to save enough eventually but being young and having a lot of barkadas, I was weak whenever I got invitations for gimmicks.  I earned more than enough of what I need, but I also spent a lot- enjoying in my nights out with friends. 

Fast forward….I am now married with 2 beautiful kids.One day, before our kids’ yaya  arrived from Philippines , my husband was driving our sedan to my daughter’s school.  Me and my two kids were seated at the back of the car.  

It was early morning and there were still not too much cars on the road.  Suddenly, another car came out of nowhere and almost hit us.  It was a slight accident, and thankfully, we were not injured, but I must admit that it was one day when I thought my heart could not beat any faster, and as nervous as I was, I almost lost my consciousness.It was my kids’ safety that I was most worried about.  I could never risk on that.  So, that same day, I convinced my husband that we should have a bigger car- a 4×4 for our family.It was almost a dragging 2 month search.  We visited a lot of showrooms- Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, GMC, Toyota , Mitsubishi, Cherry- you name it. Some showroom agents were friendly and accommodating to us, while some almost ignored us.  I guess most of them didn’t actually think that we could afford a 4x 4!!!! Ha ha!My husband wanted a Trailblazer. 

The latest model was priced at 81,000 SAR ($21,600).  I liked Hyundai Santa Fe 2009 which was tagged 83,000 SAR ($22,200).  We gave ourselves an extra week to decide, while we asked friends and family of their opinion.Then the Trailblazer which has only 5 seats was not acceptable for us, and we thought that the Hyundai Santa Fe would have a very low resale value after a while.  So we searched around again in more car showrooms. 

Some car agents were already bargaining with my husband, offering a lot of options.

Finally, we ended up choosing a silvery Ford Explorer XLT which we paid in cold cash the next day we found it—- that was last week.We had sold our old sedan (which we fondly called Michael- a white Mitsubishi Galant 2000).  

Somehow, we were forced to use most of the money we have saved in the bank to pay for the Ford Explorer which cost almost a hundred thousand Saudi riyals -that’s almost $26,000 = 1.3M pesos—- ouch! :-).  ** Say Masha Allah** But now,whenever we drive with our kids in our new SUV, I feel safer, and I’m sure my husband has become more confident on the road.  Couldn’t it be as equally important? I could imagine my Dad scolding me for buying an expensive car because he wanted us to start building our house in Mindoro three months from now.  I

’m quite sure that he would say that me and my husband were not thinking about our kids’ future.

But do we not work to get the things we want? To travel to places we wish to go to? To buy those which we dream for?  A friend once asked me, “ If you should not enjoy your life while you are young, then when should you?”Our Ford Explorer is close to the F150 I have dreamed of having when I was young.  

My husband told me that it is his gift for me and my kids.  Well, I am sure that he meant it when he said that. Now, isn’t that cool??:-)