In Honor of the Mom Van

In 2008, when we traded my much loved 4X4 in for a mom-van, I cried most of the way home, feeling sorry for the loss of my identity as a person who loved a fast fun vehicle.  But it didn't take long to get used to my little house on wheels, enjoying the benefits of automatic sliding doors, seat warmers, coffee holders and a vehicle that the kids could get in and out of without a step-ladder.  We had many adventures in my Honda Odyssey; it carried Grace and Sophie to their forever home, the girls to school, swim team, gymnastics and back, and recently it hit the 100,000 km mark without even a break in its stride.  It's been hit by a bike twice, a tree once, and dirtied beyond recognition.  And even without a benefit of shelter in a garage, it has started first try every day I have owned it...even when temperatures hit -30.

So when Tony suggested it was time for a new van 14 months ago, I said "No Way", the new van will look and smell just like the old van within a week, and I LOVE my van.  Last weekend he said "lets go to Staples", and being the total nerd that I am, off we went to browse the apple technology.  For those of you who don't live here, the Staples store is just a jump over the ditch to Honda.  And that's where we ended up, because the boy thinks he wants a Honda truck.  Before I knew it, we were talking vans, and I said confidently, "they never get this model in"...the EXL comes in about once a year to our local dealer and I was sure that I was in the clear.  But a few minutes later our salesman came by with a newer model of my van in the same colour and offered me a test drive.

So now it's in our driveway.  I had a good cry and gave my old girl a big hug before handing the keys to the 2008 over.  Our separation is only temporary though, as our receptionist is buying my old van and I can visit her whenever I like.  I am sure that we'll have many adventures and clock thousands of kilometres in the new Ody getting kids, dogs, Tony and I safely to where we need to be each day.  And by the end of the week it will smell like a swimming pool and dirty dog paws and I'll feel at home on the road again.

Lily used to tell everyone that her Daddy was a doctor, and her Mom was a driver.  How right she was.