It Seats 7

Today I had the distinct pleasure of driving the in-laws mini van across town. As I fired up the Dodge Caravan the distinct sound of the motor buzzing gave me a sudden, not so pleasant flashback.

You see, in High School I had to drive my parents mini van. Actually, even harder to admit is that it was kinda my mini van because my parents had purchased a newer one that my mom drove around leaving the older mini van as my primary vehicle. Not cool, right? It was hard enough being in High School trying to wear the right clothes, have the right friends, say the right things, make it to every home football game, camouflage the teenage acne which still seems to be a problem despite that high school has come and go. But I digress.

I recall being especially embarrassed when James from 6 period English class would write Dodge mini van on a piece of paper next to the Mercedes logo he’d so carefully sketched. Only to show me the paper, draw a large X over the “Dodge mini van” and point and tell me how cool his Mercedes was. In retrospect, his Mercedes wasn’t so cool. It was very old and probably didn’t make it many months after graduation. I wonder what James drives now?

In conclusion, never make your teenage child(ren) drive the family mini van, unless they want to of course. Leave the mini vans to soccer moms. Hey, maybe someday I’ll be driving one again. On second thought, probably not.