Saying goodbye to my mini-van and hello to a fun SUV.
I loved being a mini van mom
I have always loved driving a mini-van.
I have owned 3 over the past 17 years.
The first one we got when I was 41 weeks pregnant with Carson. I remember saying, if I don’t have this baby by tomorrow, we are going to go buy a new van.
I woke up and there was no baby – so we went and bought my Honda Oddesy.
Years later when the Honda had grown old, we got a Toyota Sienna.
The Birth Mobile
I loved that van – that is about when I started teaching Hypnobabies – and I put a reflective sticker across the back window that said www.enjoybirth.com
We called it the “birthmobile” and actually one of my doula clients almost had her baby in the front seat.
Listen to the podcast to hear that fun story!
When the Toyota Sienna had this light come on and we realized the repairs were going to cost way more than it was worth, we sold the van for parts.
It was a sad day when the tow truck came to pick it up. Carson sang it a song, we all gave it love and sadly said goodbye to the Birth Mobile. As a sidenote it is what Carson drove to high school and kids were always perplexed by the enjoybirth.com. We told Carson he could take the words off, but he didn’t care.
Love/Hate with my Next Van
We then bought my Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. Which I have had a love/hate relationship with. It had radio problems from the start, and you can hear more about that in my forgiveness episode, because I really had to work hard to forgive that van. But in the end, it was pretty posh and drove great and I loved it 95% of the time.
Well, then we moved to Utah, up in the mountains, where we get way more snow than in the valley. We literally have a sign that when it is snowing has flashing lights that says – 4-wheel drive or chains required at the bottom of our city. and I didn’t feel safe driving it in the snow. It worked for the past 2 winters, because we bought an extra car with 4-wheel drive that my son got to use when he came home from his mission and because of Covid he lived at home and so we just had enough cars to drive in the snow.
But he is heading to live at school, and we are down to one winter car.
Bryson also will be driving soon, so I won’t need a mini van anymore. Which feels like the end of an era.
It is also a great time to sell a used vehicle (if you can find a replacement)
Being open to doing things differently
So, I started my search… and knew I needed and AWD or 4wd.
I was able to trade in my van for lots of money and got a new Mazda CX5 that is RED! For only $4000 more than what I traded the van in for.
I am ready to drive in style this winter, up the hill, even when the lights are flashing.
It required me being willing and open to doing things differently.
In the past we kept our cars forever…. So turning in a van that was only 3 years old was weird. But because of the used car market, it actually made sense to sell it right now. Also letting go of driving a mini van was a little hard too. It was sort of part of my personality that I loved. But it made sense and honestly, I am loving it!
Tool for today – be willing to do something differently. When an opportunity presents itself, be flexible and open to seeing things in a different way. You may be surprised at the exciting options there are and how fun they can be.