I don't remember exactly when we found out about Ford bringing out a 2007 GT/CS, but I remember sitting at the computer in the summer of 2006 playing with their "build and price" tool. We played for hours building our dream Mustang. Brad proudly proclaimed that he was going to order one. I told him he never would be able to get one on order. I figured that they would all be spoken for seeing they were being deemed as "limited". I completely dropped the idea of ever owning a GT/CS. In the fall of 2006, Brad got a job back in the city we were from and we decided to move back home. He left to start work in August, and I stayed up North waiting for the house to sell. He mentioned being able to afford the GT/CS with his new job, but I didn't really think anything of it.

I was more concerned with selling the house and moving. Plus our first wedding anniversary was approaching and I was curious to see if Brad would do anything special for it. Our house finally sold in late October. We were scheduled to move on November 26. November 19 is our wedding anniversary, so I planned a trip home the weekend before the move. Getting a vehicle serviced was notoriously difficult up North, so I didn't think anything of it when Brad booked my Escape in to our local dealership and told me to head right there to drop it off for service and that he would meet me there. We actually met at the Ford dealership and my best friend Dawn works there, so it wasn't overly odd that after being apart for a month my first stop was DK Ford. When I walked into the showroom there was a Vista Blue 2007 GT/CS convertible front and center. Being that the dealership was decorated for Christmas, I didn't think it was odd that the car had a big bow on the roof. It looked like it was just decorated for the holiday season. I took a quick peek at the car and thought how nice it was. I tried to open the door and it was locked. I thought that was a bit odd. How were people supposed to see inside it if it was locked? Then our salesman came up to me and asked how I liked my new car. My response was "yeah right". Then I was handed the keys. It was my first anniversary present! Sure enough, there was a card on the front seat that read "Happy 1st Anniversary". I couldn't believe it! The showroom was full making it virtually impossible to get the car out for a drive. It was close to the end of the day, so I said we would come back the next day early in the morning and pick it up.

That night we had a snowstorm. We still picked the car up for a quick drive. To say it isn't the best car in the snow would be an understatement. Our drive lasted 15 minutes before we took it back. I hated to leave it behind, but we had a million things to do. The dealership agreed to store it for us while we moved and got possession of our new house. We would pick it up in early December. Again, the weather did not co-operate with us on the day we picked it up. We drove it from the dealership to our house where it was garaged until the following spring. I wouldn't get to drive my baby until May 2007. When spring finally came around, we couldn't wait to get the car out. We insured it at the beginning of May and looked forward to having the entire summer with it. I hadn't been feeling well for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to have the car on the road to have some fun with. I figured my moodiness and tiredness were from the long winter that had just ended. Was I ever wrong. In late May I took a pregnancy test. After a year of trying and being told not to get my hopes up, I was finally pregnant. It was an exciting and nerve-wracking time.

There were going to be so many changes coming within the next several months. We discussed finances, career plans, maternity leave etc. After weeks of discussion, we decided to sell the GT/CS. Neither of us wanted to, but with a baby on the way, it just didn't make sense to keep "the toy". My best friend and her husband had previously expressed interest in the car. I called her to let her know it was for sale. Nothing immediately happened with the sale of the car. We took it on a road trip to the Canadian Rocky Mountains in July 2007 for a weekend of fun before really clamping down and trying to sell the car. Summer was almost over and we knew that it was going to be really hard to see the car if we waited any longer. In August 2007 my friend called me back to say that they wanted to come look at the car. Both she and I were worried that some kid was going to buy it and wreck it. Dawn and her husband Ed came over that night to look at it. They had seen it before, but had never taken a really good look. They left that evening without saying anything. My heart sank thinking that they wouldn't take it. Dawn called me the next day and said they would take it! I was so happy to know that it was going to people who would take care of it. We agreed to drop it off at the dealership the next day. When I dropped off the car every single emotion took over and I sat in it bawling.

I took my "Happy 1st Anniversary" card out of the glove-box and handed over the keys. I couldn't believe that it was really leaving. Dawn promised that she would will the car to our baby boy because the car rightfully belonged with our family. That made me laugh a little, but I was still upset that the car was no longer mine. I saw the car off and on, and heard about every trip it went on and any changes that were made. I always joked that Dawn and Ed better keep the original parts so that when I got my car back, it could be put back to original. In April 2009 Dawn called to say that she had something important that she needed to tell me. She then said the four words I had dreaded for so long: "We bought a Shelby". I knew that meant the GT/CS was going up for sale. I called Brad immediately and told him that the car was for sale. We tried for a couple of weeks to figure out how to fit it in the budget and get it back home. Finally, we decided that now was no the right time.

The economy was in a down turn and I had just gotten back to work after maternity leave. My company was downsizing, and jobs were not very stable. We told Dawn and Ed that we would not be buying the car. They put it on consignment at DK Ford. I couldn't even go to the dealership to visit Dawn while the car was on the lot. I even skipped an oil change on my car so that I wouldn't have to see my baby for sale. I called Dawn daily for updates. Was anybody interested? Any calls on it? She would call me if there was any action on it. I must have been relaying all the information to Brad because he finally commented that I kept talking about the car every day! He went and looked at it. When he came home he told me that it wasn't as nice as he remembered it. I could tell he was lying. I tried to put the car out of my mind but I couldn't. In June 2009 we had a joint birthday BBQ for myself and a friend of the family. The topic of conversation got around to the GT/CS. I was asked by one of the guys if I really wanted the car back. I said I did but that I wasn't willing to go into debt over it. Brad admitted that he wanted it back too. The next day Brad called me at work telling me to come to DK Ford at lunch.

The office had planned on taking me out for lunch so I told him I couldn't go. When I got back from lunch there was a message on the phone. It was from Dawn. She told me to call her. When I called she told me to come by after work to sign the papers and pick up the car. Not 100% sure what she was talking about, she explained that Brad had come in that morning and re-bought the car! It was finally coming home! Everybody was so happy that the car was going back to the family in which it belonged. I arranged for mom to babysit our toddler while we went to sign the papers. Getting those keys back was the best feeling in the world! I drove the GT/CS home the same route we took it home back in 2006. Since then the car has had a baby car seat installed in the back. Our boy loves the car as much as we do. He calls it "vroom vroom". We take it out every chance we get. While it isn't your conventional "family car", we love to go out cruising in it every day in the summer. We often meet up with Dawn nd Ed and their Shelby, as well as my mom and dad who own a 1994 GT convertible, and head down to the local Dairy Queen for ice cream. I know we are going to have many years of fond memories with our GT/CS. Every time I see it it reminds me of our 1st anniversary, the happily unexpected pregnancy and the subsequent birth of our son and the enjoyment we all get out of driving the car as a family. I can't imagine life without our GT/CS.