Taking the Minivan Plunge

Thirty-eight years on this earth, 12 of them in Dedham, 10 as a mom and 18 months as a mother of three. Hard to believe that we’ve held out this long but this week, we took the plunge.

This week we purchased a minivan.

Now, I will admit – it’s not I who is going to be driving it, it’s my husband – but really, does it matter? We have arrived. For years we held out, resisting the urge to pick function over form. We lifted kids up into car seats, jammed them into sedans, scraped knuckles trying to buckle them in all in the name of “not owning a minivan.” Not that any of this makes sense, but for some reason, it’s who we were. That is, until today.

What is it about the minivan? For some reason, it has the power to define us. I mean, a young single person can drive a station wagon – originally a “family” car - and no one thinks twice about it. They could be super active, carrying around lots of hiking and sporting equipment; hence they need the extra space. Or, they could have a dog that travels with them everywhere. A teenager, parent, or anyone really, can drive an SUV whether or not it’s filled with car seats. However, the minute you make the leap to minivan, suddenly it’s clear what’s inside.

Let’s take an inventory of the contents, shall we?

• 4 empty (and sticky) juice boxes and/or Gatorade bottles
• 1 half-filled sippy cup/bottle (depending on the age of the children)
• 3 sports water bottles (so that’s  where they disappear to!)
• Balls (soccer, baseball, basketball), hockey pucks/sticks/pads, shin guards, helmets… you get the idea
• Ground-into-the-floormat Cheerios, Cheetos, cheese balls, and other various food items beginning with the letters “CH”
• Backpacks, lunchboxes, overdue library books (please refer back to bullet point No. 3 here)

In other words: YOU ARE A PARENT. You have left your days as a carefree young person behind. Your vanity has taken a backseat (yuk yuk) to parental duties. The only cruising you do now is from one school to another, this field to that game, and is peppered with trips to BJ’s and the grocery store.

Here’s the kicker though: where we used to cringe at the thought of that minivan, now we appreciate the ease of it all. And the irony of it is that now, we will be part of the majority that is the Dedham Minivan Consortium. It will make us part of the club!

Of course, when Andy looked inside the minivan that he’ll be driving off the lot today, his eyes got a little twinkle as he said to me, “Oooh, just imagine how sweet this will be when we’re tailgating at Pats games!”

I guess that this purchase may cement our role as parents, but it won’t necessarily make us grownups.