I was looking at old photos this week and discovered several of my old cars. My first car was the "sensible budget car" for a 16 year old... and was it ever a budget DREAM! I paid $800 for the car, drove it for four years with less than $200 in repairs total. I could fill the tank for $10 and drive it for nearly a week on that. I loved my little blue car.. it was cheap transportation, it was cute, and it was mine.
When my poor little roller skate car (as we called it) died, it was time for a new car. At this point, I had a good job and the means to buy a car I really loved.. it was new, black, sporty, comfortable, and I LOVED it! I drove it for almost seven years, and truly mourned the day I had to bid it farewell. My husband mocked me, but he wasn't laughing when a year later HE had to bid farewell to HIS convertible and he inherited the 'family car' that had replaced mine, so I could upgrade (with the anticipated birth of our second child) to full-fledged Minivan Mom Status.
A Minivan? Really? Weren't we cooler than that? Wasn't there some other option? Well, yes, there were other options... but not options we valued enough to warrant the price difference (a discovery accepted by most of our parenting peers).
In many ways, I'd always hoped I'd never be a Minivan Mom, but in my heart, I knew it was inevitable... My younger, cooler, sisters lovingly teased me at the step we were making... gone were the days of the cute sporty black car, suddenly I was an official member of the "Mom Club" with my gray Minivan loaded with a stroller, children's snacks, balls, bubbles, carseats, and a First Aid Kit complete with kiddie band-aids.
As I look at the old photos, I have very fond memories of "The Blue Roller Skate" and my "Blackmobile"... but the very best memories are being made in the Minivan. I look at our "practical family transportation" and I remember the first time we brought our daughters home from the hospital, countless wonderful trips to the Kansas City Zoo, picnics at the park, kite flying, Royals Games, vacations, stack of packages for a family Christmas, seeing Christmas lights, more field-trips and outings than you can imagine, grocery store trips that now include stops at the bakery for a free cookie (something I missed out on in my pre-motherhood days), and a CD player belting out sing-along tunes I'd come to know by heart and love because of the giggling choir in the backseat.
So maybe Minivans aren't exactly the coolest, most coveted, vehicle in the parking lot...but the wonderful passengers who ride in my minivan making precious memories with me.... I wouldn't trade it for the world! And for THAT reason, I'll happily admit, I'm a proud member of the Minivan Mom club. Are you?