PORT ARTHUR — I sat across the desk from the nice car dealership guy in a daze. He handed me his business card, on the back was written two things I needed to bring back the next day in order to finish the paperwork to complete the sale of the new car I had just bought. Then he placed an ink pen next to the card and turned his attention back to his computer screen while holding a nice, light conversation. I picked up the pen, turning it around in my fingers, and read the logo. For some reason I thought, for a few seconds, that he was giving me a complementary ink pen. Duh. The pen was to sign the paperwork. If I hadn't been so nervous I would have instantly realized what the pen was for. You must excuse my behavior. I had just signed away my beloved van. I had almost cried several times in those last few hours and went through the emotion-shattering process of emptying out all my belongings and watching as the license plates were removed from the van. In the minutes before I stepped in to sign the last of the papers I kept getting up from the nice, comfortable chair to take a peek out into the parking lot at the van. I even imagined the van looking back at me like a sad dog left on the side of the road by an ungrateful owner. I saw several things while looking back at the van through those huge showroom windows; the rust on the roof, the faded paint job, some dings and dents. I had planned to sand the rust off of the roof and do some prep work towardsrepairing the rusted areas. It was a project my husband and I had talked about for some time. But I kept putting it off. I thought back to a plan I conjured for the van which was to get a used car without the trade-in, park the van and slowly restore her to her original condition. I was going to buy another spare tire cover to replace the one I had lost while on an assignment one day. I would customize the cover myself by painting something really cool on the back. Maybe a fishing scene. Something unique that said “this is my van.” I would shampoo the carpet and detail the rest. I would get a new windshield to replace the old windshield that sported a zig-zag crack. Then memories of our time together moved like a slide show in my mind. Like when I bought her, I didn't tilt the steering wheel down and drove from the used car lot with the wheel in that weird upright position. I remembered the kid-sized broom I used to keep in the back under the seat/fold-out bed. I could almost stand completely upright to sweep out the van. I thought back to concert adventures and road trips and how my left arm would get sun tanned before the rest of me. I've heard stats summing up the number of years spent sleeping, watching TV, stuff like that. Maybe I can sit down and figure a stat for how many days/weeks/years I've spent driving the van since I bought her. I hadn't planned on getting rid of her, it just happened. As my last column was unfolding — the story of how the van had been broken down and later repaired and back on the road — I received a flier about a new vehicle and it piqued my interest. One night while I was bored and there was nothing on TV and I was tired of playing Boggle Bash on Pogo I picked up the flyer and went online. Yea, I knew all about the fine print at the bottom of the back page but I thought “what the heck what can it hurt?” and filled out the required info. About a week-and-a-half later I was at the dealership buying a brand new Hyundai Accent. This small little vehicle is what I need in this stage of my life. Sure, I miss driving a van full of friends and family and sitting up high above other vehicles but I'm getting over that. Can you say “gas mileage?” The van held a whopping 30 gallons of gas. Now multiply that times the price of gas and that's a nice chunk of my paycheck. The first week I had the car I stopped twice and put in a few bucks worth of gas here and there just to see what happened — the gas needle visibly moved up. A mere $5 in the van would go undetected. I'm not knocking big vehicles. I love big vehicles and one day will move to a different size vehicle, again. But right now I’m just fine. Personal trips aside, as a reporter I spend a lot of time on the road. I go to meetings, trials, interviews and race out to the scene of a crime or fire or wreck. The awesome gas mileage is fitting right in. Then there's the dependability. The first few days after I brought the car home I would still mentally prepare myself to put water in the radiator and check the tires before I left for work. Then I took a peek outside and saw the new car sitting in the driveway all shiny and blue. And don't get me started on the stereo. I love my tunes and had a nice stereo/CD player in the van but the car has XM Radio in addition to the CD player, MP3, iPod hookups and more. I can't wait to take a road trip and hit those radio dead zones. I'm ready. mmeaux@panews.com