Our first van

Ok... that title could also be... our only van. "Our van"

Way back in 1989, my family of 7 got a mini van. They were invented FOR us. None of this "we have two kids, we need a mini van" crap - we had a person to fill each and every seat - daily. (Yes, I know I have friends with two kids and a mini van...and I'm basically making fun of you - but even you can see the difference in between wanting storage space and REALLY NEEDING it...) Don't ask me what we were all traveling around in before that day in 1989, I don't want to incriminate my parents... :)

Anyway... that day... so long ago... is LEGEND in my family. We were SO excited about getting this van. My parents had poured over brochures, visited many dealerships, and finally decided on a white Mazda MPV. They were still "new" to the Mazda family... So, even as we were making our decision - we were looking for Mazda's on the road - there weren't that many! It became a new game to play on road trips.

So, my parents went to pick up our van one night after my dad was done work (it was all the way in Guelph...) and we got to wait up to "meet" the van. And I'm just realizing this now - we NEVER gave it a nickname. Ever. Strange.

When my parents pulled up, we jumped in the van. And a magical thing happened. First - the interior lights slowly dimmed - which we thought was REALLY cool - and then the seats we were sitting in became "our" seats for the rest of the van's life... FT in the driver's seat, ET in the passenger seat, in the middle row, with the least amount of leg room, the tallest kid in the family BT2, and with the most amount of leg room, the second tallest of the brothers, BT1. In the back row - the girls - me in the far corner behind FT and BT2, then REMTS in the middle (she is the baby...) and then ST at the other side, by the door. (ST is always the first to have to pee and the most urgent about it - so we're REALLY glad over time that she got that seat!)

Then, we went for a drive to Jackson's Point - and we listened to my dad's favourite song at the time - really loudly (on our factory issue Pioneer radio system) - "Healing Hands" by Elton John.

And that van served us SOOOOO well! We drove to New Brunswick. We drove back and forth to two separate high schools for millions of events/practices/meetings/missed busses...and most of us learned to drive in that van... Actually - I can't remember... REMTS - did we drive the van - or only the Saturn??? I remember driving the van - but I don't know if I was supposed to be... Ha!!! Just kidding - I just remembered - I drove to see a friend over Christmas holidays one year and I was in the van - so yes, all of us drove the van at one point. My mom and BT2 were the only ones to get in accidents in it... Unless we count the time that ST drove partly into the ditch of a friend's house...who we weren't supposed to be driving home... (That's a whole other story!)

Reason for this entry? I saw this same van drive down the street tonight. And, tonight, in London, my brother's family got to go for the first drive in their new family van... May they have as many wonderful trips and memories as we do from our beautiful white Mazda MPV!