Swagger Wagon

So I have experience in the driving of the minivans. At 16, I was too scared and wimpy to learn stick shift, so instead of driving my dad's sweet Mercedes, I had the joy and privilege of cruising town in my mom's giant Toyota Previa minivan, lovingly referred to as the "Football Van."

It wasn't very cool, y'all.

When my mom enabled my finicky spoiled-rottenness by getting me a new Toyota Corolla my Junior Year of high school, I figured I was done with minivans, for, like, ever. When Natalie was 6 months old, we upgraded the old Corolla to a Trailblazer, because all the cool moms were sportin' SUVs. Why would I want to drive a giant ugly boat car around with tons of screaming kids in the back whining and fighting?

We had the very great, unexpected blessing of T's grandmother gifting us with a beautiful, like-new minivan recently. No strings attached. Talk about generosity!

In a giant boat car, the children are spaced adequately away from each other and me. The giant boat car is actually not ugly at all, but a beautiful shade of blue with crisp clean interiors. The giant boat car has a tape player in addition to the CD player, so I can play the girls' books on tape so that they will quit asking me 42 questions a minute and be quiet for a few minutes. The giant boat car is wonderful.

We got swagger now.

T wasn't sure if I would want to drive a minivan, knowing how much I enjoy my 4 wheel drive with the ability to plow through snow drifts and rivers and brick walls while my friends are all stuck at home when the first flakes of snow begin to fall.

But common sense won out here. Not only is the minivan a vast upgrade from my SUV...it's newer, less mileage, cleaner (!), stow and go seating, etc...if we ever decided to add on to our family or invite the girls' friends out with us, we'd have to upgrade cars eventually anyways. Going down the minivan road just made sense for us, and we are so so grateful.

I realize that embracing the world of the minivan means that I have truly grown up and have become the complete embodiment of a yuppie suburbanite, and I am totally okay with that. This utterly hilarious video from the lovely Toyota people pretty much sums it up (if you're in a reader or email subscription, you may need to click over to the blog to view it):



"I got the pride in my ride, in the swagger wagon. Yeah, it's the swagger wagon."

*On a much more serious note, please visit Shelly today. She has a post up about a wonderful Christmas charity, Operation Christmas Child. This is a great opportunity to bring joy to a child and to give on a world-wide level!