10 April 2009

Riding like True Parents

Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life .

I knew that the time would come when we would have to stop impersonating parents and finally adopt the look of true parents. You see our ride was just not like that of other True Parents. We were really humble people impersonating true parents and every time we venture out of our house for a ride, the gig is up and we are shown to be bogus parents.

Our ride was just not up to par. Sheridan’s mobile ride was top notch when we arrived at a destination. We took care of this by carefully updating his china stroller to a Chico and then to a Maclaren and finally to the Chariot Cougar. We had finished upgrading his mobile ride in January at a fantastic REI sale.

I had been looking and MaMa had been hoping that we finally could really look like true parents. After her rear-end collision by another car over MLK Jr Holiday, this became more of a pressing need. We have had such fun (not really) dealing with getting the car fixed and the sub-par service from the second rate insurance company that represented the owner of the car that hit MaMa.

MaMa used to drive a van and thus rode in style. However, we determined that there would just be two of us and it was silly to have seating for 6, 7 or 8 when there were just two of us. So we got rid of the last van and downsized in 2004 to our little Corolla. Great car and wonderful for two of us. It even did fine when we got Magoo home, but we knew that we could only fake riding around like real parents for so long. The rear-end crackup sealed its fate and so we started talking. MaMa started wishing. Donna had also suggested a few times that we need a better ride (she meant a ride more appropriate to parents). Yes, we love you Donna.

We had also watched as new parents in the community seemed to get the appropriate transport vehicle like Eric and Heather. With Max coming and soon Levi, we are going to need to be able to carry buddies places.

So while MaMa wished and I researched, we passed our time while the car was in the shop. We also had been told several times by Dad that “this was a great time to buy a car. There are many great deals out there.” We even borrowed his car (a Matrix) to go to Disney in February. We packed really light. Still the car was completely full and busting at the seams. We just had three small suitcases, my camera bag, my computer bag and a few other bags with snacks along with odds and ends and the big item — his Chariot. This was another telling sign that traveling would be difficult with gear. We know as he grows, there will be times when buddies need to go and so space will also be a premium. The final idea was that there was no vehicle that could take YeYe, Nana, MaMa, BaBa and Magoo anywhere. Nothing in the family could seat 5 comfortably nevermind bring 5 with any gear.

Today, was the day. I went to three dealerships after carefully looking at the Internet for pricing and we found our new ride. We are now real parents in appearance at least. We have been real parents for a long time, but we now have joined the club and look like real parents when driving. We bought a Toyota Sienna Van (2009). The dealership had bought this from itself when new and loaned it out to customers. It has only 6,000 miles and while it is “Used”, it is new. The difference is that it has been titled to the dealership and was several thousand dollars less than a new one. The color is Silver Pine Mica which is a very light green (both Magoo’s and my favorite color) and has a nice gray interior. No DVD in the van. YEAH. He does not watch them unless on a long trip and the portable works fine. No leather seats (hot, sticky and expensive). No posh aluminum wheels, but everything that we wanted and nothing that we did not want.

So now we have our official child transportation vehicle and are at last members of the club.

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