Today we officially said goodbye to our first family minivan, a vehicle that had shepherded us over 260,000 miles for the past eleven years as a family. Interesting side note, apparently 200,000 is now the gold standard, so I’m especially proud and grateful that we went the distance. However, relinquishing our steady companion was a surprisingly bittersweet (and anti-climactic) moment. As we stood in the lobby of the Carvana vending machine building waiting for our chance to place our coin in the slot, everyone was eerily quiet or dare I say, sad. I mean, I get it. It’s the end of an era, and we all know eras don’t just end, they’re forced out by what’s next.

I still remember the day we purchased the van and drove it home. Samantha and I had been married for seven years at that point, and we we had just welcomed our second daughter in three years. Like many young parents with a growing family, we did what everyone else did: bought a minivan for the future. We had an expansive vision of our future. One that included more kids, road trips, and extracurricular activities, all of which by the way came true. But at the time, all we had was that dream that eventually would fill out into reality.

Though I fought it initially (I wanted an SUV where “if we got in an accident, I hit you, you didn’t hit me), I quickly relented when I realized how much easier this machine would make my already complicated life. Look, at the time I was juggling multiple car seats with an infant and toddler, strollers, diaper bags, and it would only increase with time. And the sheer volume of crap to cart around all the time… did I mention that one of these little people wasn’t even mobile yet? What would I look like opening and closing doors, with my actual hands? That’s for suckers.

Then, throw in the entertainment system (ours had a tv/dvd installed back when those things meant something) and you can understand what I mean. We drove from Atlanta to Baltimore, Atlanta to Chicago, and all across the south on various road trips. Before the days where every kid had their own device, this tv was a godsend. We eventually added a hitch for the five bikes, a dog, two more kids, and several more miles before we finally decided to call it quits.

It wasn’t her fault. She’d done her job. We never were left stranded. We took good care of her with regular maintenance. It was just time. You could tell the signs were there. For our road trip across the country to the west coast last year we decided on a rental because we didn’t think she could make the trip. As we started planning our road trip for this summer to Canada, we knew that it was time.

We’ve made so many memories in that van over the years, and all of my favorite ones involve a family road trip. Now, it’s time to dream new dreams and travel elsewhere. As we pulled our new minivan (obviously!) into the garage today, I turned and looked at the girls. Everyone was a bit melancholy. Olivia requested, let’s not get rid of the car any time soon. Too much change. I smiled. I have another plan for that one. I can already see her and her younger sisters driving that car in a few years. To what’s next.

SDW3