Why I Love Driving a Minivan

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1.  They’re awesome.

Four years ago we moved to AZ so Husband could attend dental school.  We had one car.  One little compact car.  Cute, but cozy.  And we had one kid.  We lived pretty close to the school but my husband drove the car to school.  Where I live there are lots of stores within walking distance so I just pushed the stroller everywhere I needed to go.  It worked for awhile.

But then it stopped working.  It got hot.  I was sick of walking everywhere and I wanted to go places that were further away than walking distance.  We tried the whole drop-you-off pick-you-up routine which was super annoying.  We tried having my husband carpool, but the guys driving left SUPER early.  We tried having my husband ride a bike.  He discovered a new knee problem, yay!  And we’d just had baby #2.  

Finally we broke down and bought another car.  We debated between a Toyota Rav4 and a Honda Odyssey.  The Toyota guy was kind of a jerk and pressured us To. The. Max.  (Ya I’m bringing that back.)

Guy:  Okay I’ll give you that deal but I CANT go any lower.

Us:  Um…that’s still above our budget…

Guy:  Alright fine, I can give you THIS new cheaper deal but seriously, if I go any lower I will be losing money.  

Us:  {Stony Silence}

Guy:  OKAY!  You twisted my arm, I will give you the low price you originally came in wanting!!

We walked out on that guy.  Mostly because the Rav4 was just not what we really wanted.  It was too small.  So we headed back over to Honda and they welcomed us with open arms, like one of the family.  And they (meaning a friend of ours who worked there) gave us a stellar deal.

We were hesitant to embrace the Life of the Minivan and all that entails (such as my current haircut.)  It was goodbye to youth, goodbye to the carefree and sporty versions of ourselves.  Goodbye to driving down the coast in a convertible as we toss scarves over our shoulder doing the snooty laugh.  Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

But once we did, we never looked back.  Gone were the days of scooting the passenger side chair all the way up to fit in our carseat and taking the wheels off the semi-truck double stroller to cram it in the trunk.  Our van fit everything.  And I mean EVERYTHING.  We visited Utah for two months this summer and on the way back it was packed to the ceiling, literally, with our stuff.  No more borrowing trucks from people when we needed to transport a large piece of furniture.

It seats all our kids and us plus two more.  ‘Nuff said.

I can drive like a maniac and not get pulled over by the police cuz really, do they even LOOK at minivans?  They just blend into the asphalt.  Also I love making unexpected swift maneuvers around smaller cars.  My engine’s got game, yo.  They look at my car and imagine some cranky lady in hair rollers (they’re half right) and would never expect it.  I guess I get to do the snooty laugh after all!

But don’t worry, I NEVER drive like that.  I drive 10 mph below the speed limit at ALL times.  I am a Cautious Carl.  Maybe.

And perhaps someday we’ll saw off the top of our minivan and drive down the coast…