It’s official…I’m a Mom. I must be. That’s the only reality on this good earth that would necessitate my purchase of a van.

I know, I railed against a van for so long, swearing on every sacred thing I know that “We will never, ever buy a van!” (maybe Taylor Swift will write a song about a similar situation 10 years from now). But believe me, I am thoroughly convinced. I am a believer.

I won’t go into too may details, but the major selling points for me were these: Mo can climb in by herself, side-doors slide open at the push of a button, we can now carry our entire family plus three more people, decent gas mileage, and a comfy ride. Also, I imagine we’ll have more kids relatively soon and there aren’t too many options out there for three carseats that don’t cost a bazillion dollars (Honda Pilot anyone?).

The even bigger development is that Andy will no longer need to commute by bus! Yay! Seriously! I need to add a million exclamation points! No more waking up at 5AM, no more getting home at 6PM. He will effectively gain 1 1/2 hours of family time (aka time Caitlin doesn’t have to be alone with the kids!). This is fantastic! It’s wonderful to transition from a one-car to two-car family!

Or, well, it would have been.

The Accord wouldn’t start Monday morning.

How’s that for timing?

Aubrey (as we named her, oh, so many years ago) has fought a long, hard battle. She’s got 260,000+ miles, and has rarely left us in a tight spot. So, true to her nature, she waited till we got another car before failing.

Many years have passed since she last sat exposed to the elements, and (of course) the day we brought the Odyssey home there was a downpour. With no room in the garage, she was left outside in the rain and something that should be warm and dry became cold and wet (That’s a highly technical diagnosis right there…).

Anthropomorphizing aside, the car should be fine.

Just imagine my Andy’s disappointment when he had to take the bus to work on Monday. All that alone time for me All that time waiting for buses on a cold, dark, rainy morning…

Andy and Joel are working on it. They like mechanical things. 

For now we have the van. I’d like to name her something. Yeah, pretty sure she’s a girl. In my mind, she’s the car analog to a pregnant woman. Is that weird?

Any ideas?

I’ll leave you with the video that makes driving a van cool.

Did I say van?

I meant Swagger Wagon…