Ugh, a minivan

It went against everything I know, but it’s all over.

So, I took the leap with my wife. To sell our family SUV and get a van. Ugh, a minivan.

The day that PJ was born in June of 2012, we realized that our car’s air conditioning was not adequate and that we needed to upgrade our vehicle. I took over the search and found a sports utility vehicle that we have grown in and have enjoyed.

Fast forward to today and I get a little emotional that we had to upgrade. That SUV felt like my last tie to truly being young. I am no longer in a “cool” family vehicle. My shoes are officially “dad shoes” and I finally see that I have a “dad bod” and I also have the shirt to prove it.

I was a little salty driving to Havre to get this minivan we saw on Tilleman Motor Company’s website. I had what I figured would be our last drive in our family SUV and it almost made me emotional because of those memories. PJ and Lincoln both experienced a lot of firsts in that vehicle. We had taken that SUV to Chicago for four or five consecutive years and Lake Tahoe once. This includes countless Hi-Line trips, and trips to various sporting events around the state.

In that SUV we had driven mountain passes and roads praying that we wouldn’t fall off. Though lately Susan and I have been on diets, we have eaten many fast food meals in that vehicle.

I remember when we had the car professionally detailed in Chicago and it looked brand new on the exterior. I remember thinking that no matter how hard I would try, I could never get the car this clean.

One thing that I can proudly say is that, we left that vehicle in better shape than we got it. (Minus the suspension.) I can only hope that the SUV treats the person who bought it better than it treated us.