1998 Jetta

So I've actually had this car twice in my life. Once in my actual youth and again when I was older. The first one got totaled when a drunk asshole almost killed my little brother. The second died a slow, lonely death in my driveway because I was driving four hours every day and I bought a sensible little Ford and never had the money or space to get my beloved Jetta working again. 

I'm not a car person but I really, really loved this car.

I imagine one day when I'm making the kind of money necessary to have a "fun" car, this will be the car I choose.

And these are a bunch of songs from those early days, when I had to pull over and switch the CDs in the six disc changer that was in the trunk, when I still had actual physical mixtapes I kept in the glove box. I remember one night, driving with my boyfriend at the time - an amazing post-punk artist type who could play every Jawbreaker song by heart and would read poetry to me in Spanish - and had a very self-aware moment. We were driving with all the windows down on a warm summer night, music up and not speaking, holding hands. I knew that was a moment I wanted to keep, so I let it permeate me, put down roots. I knew then someday I'd be older and different and maybe not with this boyfriend anymore but right then, I was so happy. And moments like that deserve to be kept.