The minivan moment

If you have a family, you experience this moment eventually. Those of us who are lucky enough to overcome our pride, breakdown and get one. Those of you who don't...the rest of us know the truth. You secretly wish you had one.

Charlie and Donna are at their moment. Here is Charlie's mea culpa:

To all of those who,

Listened to me childishly make brash statements beginning with "I will never..."

Smiled knowlingly as I declared, "Not as long as....."

Reserved the years of knowledge as I offered, "I will bet you, (insert dollar figure here)...."

Yes, to all of you, I must now admit that your years of knowledge and wisdom on family planning, adulthood, and maturity far surpassed mine.

I have now reached the point in my life, where with full pride intact, I can admit to all family and friends, that I was fooled and wrong for years.

To all of you, with your "I told you so's" waiting in queue, I can proudly declare last night, we brought home our....

MINI-VAN!!!

* Please see picture attached for full verification.

Charlie.

Good job, Charlie. Welcome to the Club.

Our 2000 Honda Odyssey has taken us on many a road trip and camping trip. It has shuttled inumerable birthday parties, scout troops, day trips and out of town visitors.

All summer long there are bathing suits, beach towels, sand toys and beach chairs in the way-back ready for fast deployment. We have hauled 7 years of leaves and piles of junk to the dump in it. We have packed it so full with camping gear and bikes, that people have actually pulled us over because they thought we were in danger. We have lashed our kayak to the roof rack and taken it all over the Adirondacks and the North Shore.

We have hauled huge pieces of furniture, appliances and construction materials in it. And I shudder to think how many grocery, mall and Target runs we've done in these 7 years.

A minivan is a marvel of family function.

If you have 2 kids, they each get their own row. This is key.

There are 8 cupholders. And oddly enough, you'll wish you had more.

The well in the way-back is the entire reason you should spend the extra dough on the Odyssey. It means you can pack even more stuff in, and what's more, your grocery bags never tip over.

Look closely at the picture of our minivan. The running board is coming off. The center console cupholder (the one you use every day) is busted. And while the engine still runs great (We've never had an issue with it.), it's showing it's age and it's getting tired.

So here we are, with our kids now 11 and 14, facing another moment.

The second minivan moment.

Will we take the plunge?