Welcome home, mini van.

You may have heard, I totaled our mini van last month. Totaled as in wrecked. Once I got over the emotional distress of the wreck, I really just missed my van. I missed the space. I missed the ease of having kids get in and out. I missed the automatic sliding doors {even though only one of them was actually working ...}. I missed sitting up high but not being as wide as the Yukon I was borrowing. I missed not being able to hand my 3-year-old boy a wipe at a red light when the sucker the bank teller gave him had turned to red liquid was streaming down his face.

{I should say here I'm totally grateful my mother-in-law let me borrow her eight-passenger Yukon, which I kept calling a monster truck because I thought I was going to run over every other vehicle in any parking lot I had to navigate. Many of my in-laws have their CDL to drive buses. I am not in that group.}

I know of two well-read blogs {MiniVansAreHot and Rage Against the Mini Van} that have titles dedicated to the resistance that some moms have with driving a mini van. While I totally appreciate these mommas' words and stories, I don't understand why someone with more than one kid wouldn't want to drive a mini van. I'm not joking. 

While keeping his eyes out for what I'd requested, the manager of the local Chrysler dealership emailed me and asked, "Does it have to be a mini van? Does it have to seat seven people? I have some nice, small SUVs." No need to think about my response: Yes. And yes. I knew what I wanted to a replace my red 2006 Chrysler Town & Country: Another Chrysler Town & Country. Color and year were negotiable.

I did look at other brands of mini vans at another local car dealership, but none of them had the features I wanted: automatic sliding doors, stow-and-go storage and preferably no DVD player. I guess the stow-and-go storage is a Chrysler and possibly Dodge Caravan feature. Nothing like an organizational feature to keep me loyal to a vehicle company.

Needless to say, I was excited to find a used mini van with the features I wanted in our price range when we were in Louisville after Christmas celebrating with my family. Thank you, Internet, for allowing me to search used mini vans with in a 30-mile radius of my mom's house so easily.

By looking at the photo above, my daughter was happy for the return of a mini van. She and I were running some errands while we were in the big city after picking up the new-to-us blue 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. I said, "Hey, do you want to pose with our new van?" No hesitation, just this smile.

At this rate, my girl will want to drive a mini van the minute she turns 16. Hey, a momma can hope, right?
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