Adjusting

So, I am excited to own a minivan. It’s true. I love it. I love driving it and have had a great time showing off my automatic doors and trunk. I think it’s a great looking vehicle and I’m really happy with my selection. But simultaneously, I’m sorta having a weird time adjusting. I don’t know what it is exactly. I think it is just an adjustment. Because no part of my identity isn’t “mom” now. Ya know?

My vehicle is nice to drive and it’s aesthetically pleasing. But my vehicle is no longer made to be fun to drive. It’s made for transporting, both people and items. It’s not a sports car or a sedan. It’s a minivan. It’s definitely a mom car, albeit a nice mom car. And it’s the first time I’ve had a strictly mom type vehicle.

So it is an adjustment.

My very first car was a Nissan 240 SX. It was a 1989 model with more miles than you can probably put on a car nowadays. It was a five-speed, manual transmission, and would absolutely fly. Not necessarily the safest car for a 16 year-old. But definitely fit me. A couple of years later I traded that and got a Ford Probe GT Turbo. Another manual transmission but this one was at least front wheel drive. It was another fun little car. After the Probe I got a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. I lived in Boone then and needed something with four wheel drive. But when we moved back off the mountain in 2007, I traded the Jeep for a 2001 Ford Escort. In 2009, when I was pregnant with Evie, I needed something four door so I traded the Escort in on a 2007 Nissan Versa. And three years later, I find myself with a child on each hip looking a minivan. It has been an adjustment.

In the decade that I have been driving, I have had a pretty diverse range of vehicles. I’m hoping I can get over this new vehicle every two years thing. I’m hoping that I have found a vehicle which will fit my life needs for many years, not just a couple. I’m hoping that just because I drive a mom car that doesn’t mean that I’m less attractive or less fun or less cool. I’m hoping that it means that I’m practical and reasonable. Planning ahead. Prepared. Dedicated to being a parent.

But it has been an adjustment.

But I am really looking forward to our first road trip. Hoping to find some time go see my grandparents soon. And then need to plan a trip to Boone to visit my in-laws, hopefully next month. In April, we are planning to go to a petting zoo in Virginia and now I’m even more excited about that. It’s going to be their grand opening. (By the way, you can check them out on Facebook, the name is Garden of Eden, located in Martinsville, Va.) And I won four free tickets! Anyone interested on going with me? It’s going to be awesome. Then in April or May I’m hoping/planning to take the girls back to the zoo in Asheboro. This year, my parents could even come along since there is room in our car! Sometime this summer I want to take the girls to the children’s museum in Winston and the historic farm in Pinnacle, Horne Creek Farm.

Now that it is so easy to get my kids in and out, I’m already scheduling a lot more outings. No more being trapped in the house because it is such a pain to try to go anywhere. Nope. We are going to go to the regional museum in Mount Airy. And going to try out all the local parks. We’re going to visit the Mount Airy Library one week and the Dobson library another. We’ll go to Pilot Mountain State Park one Saturday when it’s nice and walk around some and maybe go up one of the trails.

See, an adjustment.

In my previous car, it was such a pain to try to go anywhere. Wrestling both children in and out was so exhausting. But the whole process is so much easier with the van. It’s also easier since the kids are bigger. Evie can get herself into her car seat and actually buckle herself in while I’m getting Elly in. But the van facilitates even that aspect. Carrying Elly and holding Evie’s hand, I can press a button on my key fob (aka the remote thingy) and Evie’s door will begin sliding open. I can help Evie up into her seat, press the button on the van to start the door closing, walk around the van and open the other door. Put Elly into her car seat while Evie is getting her buckles on. Climb in to check Evie’s buckles, recheck Elly’s, climb out and shut the door and get in the front seat. *relieved sigh* Takes probably HALF the time it used to take. Maybe even less. I had to get Elly into her seat while fighting to keep Evie inside the door so she didn’t run off in the parking lot or into traffic, then take Evie around her side, by which time she was usually aggravated and hateful from all my cajoling and fussing while I tried to get Elly in. Now it’s just so easy! I guess if you haven’t done it you probably won’t appreciate the difference. But I assure you that things are WAY simpler with a van.

So yeah, an adjustment. I am truly happy with my life as a minivan mom. I hope that this doesn’t mean I will never get checked out by a random dude again, cause that was always good for the old self-esteem. But either way, life in a minivan is good. And hey, it comes with a built in DVD player! And my very own remote.