We are expecting a new addition to the Teldeschi clan at the end of January. Yes, more little Christines to torture you. Mwahahaha!
I know what you’re thinking. “You mean all this time she’s been pregnant and not writing drunk?” Yep. This is all au naturel me, baby. So, now that our family is growing, we need a bigger car. My four-door sedan would work for now, but our second car decided to die. My husband can commute with the sedan, and me, well, I get the mommy car. UGH!
I am trying to resist the call of the classic, stereotypical “mom mobile,” a.k.a. minivan. I know the minivans of the 1980s and ’90s are not the minivans of today. My husband is already lured by the commercials marketing a “hip” van for today’s stylish parents. Some of them come with this special speaker system that he keeps going on and on about. “Oooh, and we can get a sunroof.” He’s sold already. We rented a 2011 Chrysler Town and Country for a week’s vacation earlier this year.
To be honest, I love the room but hate the image. Are minivans really turning cool, or am I just giving in? SUVs can seat just as many, right? But my mom friends are warning me of their child-seat wars, the difficulty getting kids in and out of them and the lack of some of the bells and whistles you might find in a minivan. And they’re more comfortable for long travels, one woman said.
Gulp. Uh, I can handle an SUV. Sure. We do travel a lot because all sets of our kids’ grandparents live at least an hour and a half away. No. I won’t do it. But then, the minivan’s light shines like a beacon that seems to be calling me to the mother ship.
The 2011 Toyota Sienna. True, there's no disguising a minivan as anything else, but if you have to drive a vehicle with such an inescapable social stigma, you might as well do it in one that looks good. Photo by Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times
