Francesca.

Life is always such a glass-half-empty, glass-half-full scenario. And this past week was sort of like that for me. 

I'm pretty super stoked with my new vehicle. She is a 2019 Nissan Rogue and her name is Francesca. It took me a couple of days to settle on a name. Ellie and Tess were the first names in the running. I even briefly considered "The Black Widow" but not too seriously. 

Ellie came from the term Rogue Elephant - one who removes itself from the herd and lives an independent and somewhat unpredictable life. 

Tess refers to one of the first movies Albert and I ever watched together (and I slept through much of it.)  He could just say the word, "Tess" in a number of different situations and I'd know exactly what he was talking about.   However, the movie is full of death, rape, and other not-so-happy things and it even ends with Tess being arrested and hanged for murder.  So not exactly what I want my new car to represent. 

Then I remembered how much I love the name Francesca. And how, when I suggested Brandi use that name for her unborn daughter, she said yes she liked the name and if the child came out Italian with black hair she would consider it. But it didn't really suit someone who, coming from the palest parents ever, was sure to end up being super blond and fair.  

And so, although she is not an Italian car, she is dark and beautiful. And her name is Francesca.  She's pretty fancy-schmancy and it will likely take me quite some time to get all the buttons, gadgets and electronics figured out. And her steering wheel is heated. This option seems a bit frivolous, but my hands are always freezing, so I find this to be beyond fantastic. 

While I am excited about Francesca (she's the glass half full) the glass half empty side of it was that it was a little bit hard to hand over the keys to Bruce, Albert's F350 truck that he felt pretty honoured to own.  I had received some inheritance money after my Dad passed and we had used that money for Bruce (which is my Dad's middle name.) 

So saying goodbye to Bruce was like leaving behind yet another piece of both Dad and Albert. But I know they would both be pleased with her. And I believe they'd be kinda impressed with me putting on my big-girl panties and researching, comparing, shopping and dealing all on my own and driving away with what I think was a pretty fair deal.  

Francesca. While she is not Italian, she is dark and beautiful. 

Jed felt pretty important being the first to ride shotgun in my new ride.