Five Years

It’s nothing now

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Once upon a time, looking five years ahead was almost inconceivable to me. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like, where I’d like to be, or who my kids would become in that time. It might as well have been an eternity away.

Now, five years is nothing, a mere blip on the radar, to look either back on or forward to.

Back in 2020, we bought a car for my hubby. His old one was barely limping along as it was but then was subject to catalytic converter thieves. There was no point in fixing it up, so we started shopping.

He found one he liked right away and we arranged financing: five years of payments.

I admit, I was stunned. After all, thirty years prior my ex-husband and I couldn’t get a car loan for longer than three years. Now, it’s normal to have a brand new car with payments for seven or eight years and a used car with four or five years of payments.

We made one payment, maybe two before he was sent home to work because of the pandemic. He hasn’t been back in the office since.

Yesterday, a letter arrived from the bank that holds the car loan. It simply informed my hubby that the final payment would be taken soon, along with the balance of that payment.