Minivan Mania

I finally have a minivan!!!!!

This is very big for me, as I have really, really wanted one for at least three years now. Really.

My car is a goner. We scrapped it.

And all I had to do was to get stuck on the side of a road, in a park with no houses around, with my sons and four fish fry dinners in the trunk, and my cell phone forgotten on the charger at home. And it was getting dark and it was very cold, and the engine wouldn't turn over at all. God Bless stranger Beth, who stopped on her way to walk her dog, and drove back home to call my husband.

My new minivan is a lovely blue which matches Doorman's work van. When we were first married, we coincidentally had matching paint on our cars, too. How sweet!

I will say, that to temper all of this unbounded joy, I had to offer up not being able to pick out, see or test drive my van. Doorman's work van is only a two-seater (and he doesn't let me drive it anyway), so he had to do all of the driving and deciding on my new van, and all the running to the insurance company and the DMV. The first time I laid eyes on it he was pulling it into our driveway all set to go.

By the way, I should mention that new around here means "new to me." No one in this family would dream of paying retail for a brand new vehicle when you can get a used one sooooo much cheaper.

And God Bless Doorman's Mom and Dad! Although they are now with Our Lord, it was their money (which came less than three weeks ago) that allowed us to pay cash for our new vehicle. The money we got (which was a total surprise, we weren't expecting to get anything from the estate until next spring) was within $400 of what we had to pay out. God is good. As my Mom put it: the minivan is like a gift from them. Very nice to think of it that way, and remember them.