When you’re an adult—or at least pretending to be one—you sometimes find yourself looking back at life’s little milestones. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic, especially after celebrating a big moment earlier this week: someone in the family bought their very first car. It felt like a rite of passage — one of those defining steps into adulthood.
Owning a vehicle is a huge responsibility, no doubt. But it also represents something bigger: freedom. The ability to go where you want, when you want. That delicate balance of responsibility and independence — classic “adulting.” It instantly took me back to my own first car: Terry the Terrain.
At the time, I had just moved home from Calgary. I was feeling a little lost, having traded in my city life for the slower pace of small-town living again. If I was going to accept that reality, I knew I needed a vehicle — my own kind of freedom machine.
As luck would have it, a family member was selling their car: a GMC Terrain. For those not fluent in cars, it’s a small SUV with all-wheel drive — ideal for mountain life. Growing up, our family always drove larger vehicles, so one thing I was sure of was that I didn’t want to feel tiny out on the highway. I had one rule: it couldn’t be a small car. After that, anything else was a bonus.
Terry wasn’t flashy, but it was more than I could have hoped for. He came equipped with a backup camera (thankfully), heated seats, and just enough trunk space for our pup, Bruno.
But more than the features, what mattered was reliability. Something that could get me from Point A to Point B, and back again.
We took countless road trips to Calgary and back, giving me that taste of city life when I needed it, without sacrificing the mountain home I was adjusting to. Terry helped me find balance during a transitional time, and for that, it holds a special place in my heart.
I had it for a couple of years before upgrading to my next vehicle, but I still think about it from time to time.
I know someday, when my future kids are shopping for their first cars, I’ll be that parent, telling them all about Terry the Terrain — and how your first car is so much more than just a set of wheels.
