Does this minivan make me look fat?

I'm not sure when or where my phobia of minivans began, {you can read all about that here} but I think that deep down I always kind of thought if I ever bought a minivan, I might as well buy a bumper sticker to go with it. You know, the one that says, “I gave up.”  Minivans kind of scream mom jeans and scrunchies to me. No thanks I scoffed. I'm too cool to drive one of those. I've still got it dammit!

Then one day last week our beloved but worn out SUV left me stranded in the carpool line at school and I knew that it was time. It was time to say goodbye to the car that we went on our first date in. The car that we drove away on our honeymoon in. The car that we brought our babies home from the hospital in. 

I know I told you all before that we test drove plenty of shiny, slick SUV's. And I fell in love with more than one of them. But for one reason or another, none of them quite fit our lifestyle. We needed a van.  It was time to do a little soul searching.

I mean maybe, just maybe, the fear I have held onto for years is really about my fear of getting older. My responsibilities. The lack of freedom to come and go as I please. You would think that getting married, or buying a house, or giving birth to 3 children would make me feel like a grown up. Nope. It was shopping for a minivan.

And being a grown up means getting past the coolness factor. I know that logically and financially, at this moment in our lives, driving a van makes the most sense for my family. So tonight, as I sit down to type this, there is a shiny new black minivan in my garage. And to be completely honest {a gazillion cup holders aside} it isn't as bad as I made it out to be in my head. So I'm vowing right here and right now to embrace my new minivan lifestyle. I may just wear a scrunchy in my hair for carpool tomorrow.