Goodbye, Mini-Van.

We sold our mini-van today. I just watched it turn the corner with its new owners happily in the midst of at least seventeen cup holders. My audible sigh of relief surely reached to the far corners of the earth as the heavy label of suburban soccer-mom lifted from my shoulders, revealing minor indentations but no permanent damage.

How Did It Come to This?
We bought that mini-van about two years ago, in spite of my kicking and screaming. Eventually, I succumbed to reason, realizing that there are only a handful of automobiles capable of comfortably transporting three child car-seats, the parental units attached to those car-seats, and the occasional guest or two. The monstrous Suburban that preceded the mini-van proved to be logistically suitable, but my back began to wince at the thought of hurling the kids/infant carrier into the colossal seats, which seemed to get higher and higher with every journey.

When we went to test drive “mini,” my husband had to pry me out of the car. I couldn’t believe I was “going there.” I had already found myself smack dab in the middle of the suburbs and now this!? Growing up, my mom was the proud owner of a navy blue Dodge Caravan (it even had its own family theme song: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Van”). I think it was one of the first mini-van models on the road. Although we did have some fun journeys, I vowed to never drive a mini-van when I was around fourteen.

Like other reluctant van-drivers, I too decided that the automatic sliding doors, easily accessible seats, spacious interior, DVD player (with headsets so I don’t have to hear Dora a gazillion times a day!) and plethora of cup-holders were worth the shot to my ego. It just made sense, especially since our kids are so young and still need help buckling their seat belts (which means I need to scale whatever seats are in the back to make sure everyone is secure). Bottom line: I drove it and I liked it. There. I said it. And, I actually found the ridiculous number of cup holders quite useful.

Au Voir, Mini
In the seven years my husband and I have been married, we’ve owned TWELVE different cars, so maybe it was easy to say “yes” to mini in the first place because I always knew her stay would be short and sweet. A few weeks ago, I could see it in his eyes. Another vehicle was on the horizon. Click. Click. Click. Mini was now officially listed on autotrader.com and we were prepared to usher her onto her new owners with no remorse or regret.

Shockingly (or not), mini-vans are in high demand! Everyone interested in mini seemed to be living the exact life we were living when we first purchased her. We could see the prospective buyers coming from miles away. Lots of little kids trailing behind frazzled parents searching for a sensible and safe automobile that would survive the Colorado snow and ensure sanity on long trips. Of course, the mileage, condition and maintenance records are secondary to the DVD player, (wipe-able) leather seats and countless CUP HOLDERS!

Today, we cleaned out the remnants of fruit snacks, juice boxes and crayon pieces and handed the keys to those frazzled parents who loaded up a new batch of car seats and proceeded to populate the seats with their own brood. I could just imagine mini saying, “here we go again.” And off they went.

Now What?
So now the hunt begins. My husband loves this part. It gives him license to pour over tons and tons of web sites perusing the Internet for the next great deal. Now that two of our three children are in booster seats and can buckle their own safety belts, the sliding doors and accessible back row have lost their luster. I’ve paid my mommy-dues and now I’m ready to move on from the obligatory mini-van stage. Maybe #13 will stick around for a while (maybe not). Either way, I look forward to seeing what pulls up to our house. And the first thing I’ll do is count the cup holders.