The Jeep That Carried Me Through Losing Everything (Twice)

There are some things you don’t realize will be hard… until they are.

Saying goodbye to my Jeep was one of them.

When You Just Know Something’s Wrong

It started with a flashing check engine light. The dinging. That sinking feeling in your stomach when you just know something isn’t right.

I knew that feeling because I’d been here before. And the last time it ended with a new engine. 

Misfire on cylinder #1.
And more behind it.

I didn’t need all the details to understand what that meant. This wasn’t going to be simple. And it wasn’t going to be cheap.

But what made it harder wasn’t the repairs.

It was what that Jeep meant to me.

My Jeep’s last breaths 💔

More Than Just a Jeep

Because that Jeep wasn’t just a vehicle.

It was there for some of the biggest, hardest, most defining moments of my life.

I think back to the Rubicon Trail.

A trail I never thought I’d get to experience… and yet there I was, behind the wheel, with my two boys along for the ride. Crawling over rock, pushing past doubt, doing something I once thought was out of reach.

Life has a funny way of getting you exactly where you’re meant to be even if the path doesn’t look anything like you planned.

And then there were the moments no one sees.

The quiet, heavy ones.

That Jeep was there through my divorce. When everything I knew changed. When I left it all behind to start over in Colorado.

And then again… starting over in Wyoming.

Twice.

Losing everything… twice.

And somehow, through all of that, I still had my Jeep.

It sounds silly to some people, I’m sure. But when everything else felt uncertain, that Jeep was steady.

It was something I could count on.

It was my rock.

The Day I Made It to the Rubicon Trail

Letting Go

So when it became undriveable, I was faced with a decision I didn’t want to make.

Wait without transportation.
Take on repairs I couldn’t afford.
Or let go.

None of those options felt good.

But sometimes life doesn’t give you easy choices. Just necessary ones.

So I let go.

And I cried signing the papers. Not because I didn’t understand the decision but because I did.

Because I knew I wasn’t just saying goodbye to a Jeep.

I was closing a chapter.

Goodbye Old Jeep, Hello Purple Reign

What Stays With Us

But here’s what I also know…

That Jeep gave me everything it was supposed to.

The memories don’t go away.
The strength I found doesn’t disappear.
The woman I became through those miles that stays with me.

So this isn’t just a goodbye.

It’s a thank you.

Thank you for carrying me through some of the hardest seasons of my life.
Thank you for the adventures I never thought I’d have.
Thank you for being there when I needed something steady.

You were never just a Jeep.

You were part of my story.

If you’ve ever had to let go of something that meant more than people realized… you understand.

More than a Jeep…
it was the life I was building 💜

The Next Chapter

And while this chapter is ending…

I’m still here.

Still moving forward.

Still a Jeep girl.

💜