You may have noticed in a recent post the monstrosity that is Frank the Tank a.k.a. my van. Now in college, I made a pact with my girlfriends that none of us would ever drive mini vans, as we were young and why would we want to do that?! Well I have stood by that pact as have they, but something had to be done. We had a suburban "Bernie" (Yes we name all of our cars) I loved him. He was my dream car. But we have 4 kids, a dog, obviously a lot of sh....stuff we travel with and 4 cousins we carpool with. So what were our options? Whereas school bus would be convenient, that was not in my wheelhouse. Nor was the Sprinter Van, as convenient as the Gosselins find it. So when we started toying with the idea of a larger capacity ride, I looked in every direction, praying this wasn't my only option, but alas it was :( The best/worst part is our cousin/neighbor/carpool also drives one :) I know misery loves company, but one day she said "Most of the time I forget what I look like driving the van, and then I see you and think 'Oh yeah :( That's what I look like':)" Thanks a lot! I will say we look pretty rad traveling together. Like we have some sort of compound or church group :) One thing is for sure though. I stayed true to my pact. There is nothing "mini" about Frank!
The funny part is you wouldn't believe the compliments I get on him. I'll walk out of a store or pull into a parking lot, at least once a week and there will be some guy eyeing him-It's only ever guys that dig him. One time I came out and there was a man standing, staring at my 12 seater beauty and his wife was standing there a few yards ahead, just dying. He goes " This Yours? It is Really!?!? That is a good looking rig right there. I bet my wife would just love it....Honey! Honey! Come here!" She looked as if she might die of embarrassment. I wasn't sure if that was due to her husband talking to me about it or the thought of her actually driving one ;) but she looked less then thrilled. I spoke of Frank the Tank's convenience and laughed about how nobody wants to mess with him on the freeway, but as I spoke my mind wondered back to the day when I picked him up from the dealership. I kept trying to figure out ways to make "Used to be cool" into a personalized plate.
UC2BCUL??? It's still not off the table
Among other things I never thought I'd get used to...Poo, no literally, Poo. I remember changing Keegan's diaper thinking YUCK! Gagging sometimes, freaking out when I had to put him in the bath because IT was everywhere. After hundreds of diapers changed and well, tons of poo wiped, and worst of anything- potty training Cam (At one point he pooped on the floor and walked it through my downstairs! Last week I was changing Maddie and looked down and I had poo all over my hand and arm and I didn't even flinch. It wasn't until later that I thought "Gross Ashley! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? :)"
Now I also said I would NEVER be one of THOSE parents that let their kids go out in public looking all "willy nilly." We had errands to run and it was the Friday before the 4th of July so it was going to suck no matter what. Maddie HAD to wear a certain pair of foot apparel, we HAD to go so I was like "whatever" we just have to get out of here! Then we got through Trader Joe's in one piece, a small miracle, and by the time we got to Macy's I just wanted to get home. So really I got out of the car and the only thing that crossed my mind was...
I guess it's all about perspective. At 17 I never thought I would be able to parallel park my GEO Metro:) Now I whip Frank the Tank into any parking spot. My mom says I drive him like a sports car. Or I remember when I would think, "Gosh if someone would just take Keegan I could totally go to the store and it would be SO EASY!" When he was my only one! Now I think maybe I should just take a couple friends plus mine, then when I ONLY have my 4 it will seem easier. At one point I weighed 20 pounds less, but thought I was overweight and I used to think that 30 sounded OLD. Now I'm looking back at it.
So perspective MUST be the name of the game! I think daily about what will change in my life to give me the perspective that I look back on what I did today and think "HUH! That wasn't so bad :) I know something will. It's scary and exciting at the same time. But that thought leaves me this evening with a smile on my face. As I snuggle here on the couch with Maddie knowing that my 3 other little monsters are sleeping peacefully upstairs I think
"Huh! I've got it pretty damn good!"
QUICK UPDATE!
Today at Keegan's baseball tournament, I came down the hill to the field to see Joe talking to a couple who had 4 small kids with them. I spoke with them too, but Joe told me later that they walked up and saw his/our teams uniforms. They recognized the team (we have it written on our window with-GO KEEGAN:) and said to him "Hey whose passenger van is that in the parking lot? " Joe said "well, which one? We have 2 on our team." They said the charcoal one, and Joe said that was ours. Then the wife says "Well, We....LOVE YOUR VAN!!!" Joe thought at first they were going to say they hit our van, then he thought they were kidding. But why would they seek us out to mess with us :) They started to say they already had one but they thought ours was "SO SHARP LOOKING..." Long story short that was too funny and EXACTLY what I was saying last night in my post:)
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