I had really hoped that we would be through the paperwork stage on the adoption by the end of this month. Considering we have not yet heard back from the State ofNVon J’s background check, though, that’s obviously not going to happen. At this point, we’ll be lucky to be through the paperwork and have our license by the new year, considering that the holidays always make things take longer. It’s really hard to be patient knowing that once we get through the paperwork stage we’ll be back to having to be patient in waiting for a match.

So to remind myself of why it pays to be patient, I’m going to tell you the story of our cars.

The Sable C and I moved to Seattle in 2001, driving his old Mercury Sable. That fall, we seriously considered getting a new car, and did all the research, including test drives, figuring out which cars, at which prices, we liked best. We decided not to get a car then, though, because the Sable was fine and we had a workable single car schedule.

The Saturn When the Sable then died a few months later (transmission issues with an experimental transmission means fixing is more expensive than replacing), we at least had all the previous information at our fingertips. And while we did quickly replace the car with our new Saturn, having been patient before meant that we knew what we were getting and that it was what we wanted.

I LOVED that Saturn. It was my first car- new or used, and despite the fact that the only automatic thing in it was the transmission, it was wonderful. We had it from when we bought it in 2002 to when I totaled it in 2008.

The VW Starting in late 2004, when I took my new job, the one that had me working at a different place than C, I started wanting a new car. I really liked the Scion xB and the Nissan Versa. We talked about getting a car. We researched. We test drove. We didn’t get one. I got a major raise- more than enough to cover a new car payment. We didn’t get a new car. We paid off the Saturn a few months early in late 2006. We still didn’t get a new car.

I started my MBA program, but I was in classes on Saturdays, so being a one car family still worked for us.

But for spring quarter, I had to start taking week night classes. Luckily, C’s busy season at work ended just before my spring classes began, and we were able to maintain that one car schedule, but we both knew that come fall and winter, we would need a second car. So summer 2007, we finally bought our second car- our VW Jetta sedan. And guess what- we love it. (And it’s paid off.)

The Chevy In 2008, I totaled the Saturn. I won’t go into details of the accident, but I was banged up and bruised, but not otherwise injured. It might have been a different story had there been a passenger (and then maybe the police would have been willing to consider that the guy driving 15 mph over the speed limit might be at fault, but that’s neither here nor there.) We tried to take our time finding a new car, but I was banged up and sore for a while, so my patience for test driving was low. That, and we’d really gotten used to the convenience of being a two car family. We weren’t patient, or I wasn’t patient, and I settled for a good enough car- the Chevy Cavalier. I won’t say I hated that car, but I certainly didn’t like it. It was too much like the Saturn cosmetically and not enough like it in handling. It was not long before I wanted a new car.

VW #2 We didn’t get rid of the Chevy until this summer, nearly 4 years after we bought it. We once again had a reason to buy- needing a car that could safely carry 3 dogs and a car seat. We once again took our time and did research. We got our VW Jetta wagon, which we love.

So there we go, being patient and waiting until the right time pays off. Rushing does not. That’s my lesson of the cars.

I still really wish we could hurry up and get this paperwork done, though.