Life without the mini-van

I might be exaggerating when I say this, but my life is doomed without my mini-van. Not a day goes by in which I can say that the "Swagger wagon" just rested in my driveway. Multiple pick-ups and drop offs to school and extra-curricular duties, grocery shopping and other-stuff-shopping, sanity drives to nowhere in particular (but without kids in the back)....It is the normal mom job.

Basically, I drive a bus. I take advantage of the auto-sliding door to get the kids in and out without having to stop the car....I mean, engine. My vehicle protects the soccer EZ-up and multiple folding chairs, just in case. Within the many, too many, little nooks and crannies you will find a plethora of knick-knacks and half-eaten granola bars. I call it emergency food when I find fruit snacks and Ritz crackers beneath the seats. I once even found a 3/4-full yogurt tube in the back compartment. Thank goodness is was so filled with sugar instead of dairy that it wouldn't stink up my van.

So, my van has a little problem with a popping front door and I took it in to get fixed. It could be a week before we reunite again. I worried a little when the "guy" told me this, but we've lived with 1 car before...That is, until I smashed into a parked armored car and then we had no car....Good Pepperdine memories! My husband usually rides his bike to work (he's one of THOSE save-the-earth while getting exercise kinda guys) so I can use his car, except for one day this week when he needs it to go super far away....Los Angeles. It's gonna take a little planning to get everyone to where they need to be with just one car, but it's a good challenge. It will force the rest of the family (mostly me) to do a little bike riding and walking (save-the-earth kinda transportation).

Needless to say, I am so attached to my van. It's not like it's the envy of the neighborhood or that I like to take my friends and family on joy-rides just to show it off. That is just plain silliness! I am just so dependent upon it. It helps me take my groceries home. It keeps mum about all of my over-budget purchases at TJ-Maxx or when I secretly endulge my sweet tooth as I wait in the church parking lot to pick up my son from Youth Group. If I need to hide from my kids to take a nap, it will always offer the back bench, although it's only been a thought/pipe dream. It will never criticize my horrible singing when I do my best impression of Steve Perry. Hey, "Don't Stop Belivin'"!

This is a reminder to me that God is still blessing my life. God has given me many things to help me cope with my temporary "loss". Our second family car is a blessing. The friends that I am going to call to help me get my kids home from school will be a blessing. The extra calories that I burned running home from the dealership was a blessing as well as the many more that I will be burning as I walk to and from the boys' school multiple times this week. My husband's flexible schedule is a blessing and so is his job to which will pay for the repairs.

...And as I snooped around his car this afternoon as I waited for the little guy to get out of school, I found a nice emergency plastic baggie full of ketchup and crushed pepper packets just in case I ever get trapped in his car. How VERY thoughtful!