You Are Already Old And Uncool.

We thought we were too young and too cool.

Now we can't believe how naive and short sighted we were.

Sometimes it takes tragedy to open one's eyes.

We were married with one child. Cyndy was driving our leased Four-runner in downtown Columbia. Some idiot attempted a U-turn in the middle of Washington Street and slammed into the Four-runner.

The airbags went off and everything. Cyndy called me at work and I ran 2 blocks to the accident. Cyndy was OK but shaken up. We decided to let the ambulence take her one block to Baptist Hospital. It ended up that Cyndy had broken a bone in her foot.

It took quite some time to get the Four-runner repaired. The insurance for the at-fault driver paid for a rental car, but they had no SUV's. We got some sedan, which was OK until it was time to take Madeline and our large dog to the beach for a week.

We called the rental company and all they had was a mini-van. We couldn't fit ourselves, dog and luggage in the sedan, so we got the mini-van.

It was not a nice mini-van, it was kind of grubby.

But the mini-van totally rocked. So much more usefull and practical than an SUV. More room inside and easier access with the large sliding doors on each side.

We had thought that we were too young for an uncool mini-van, but we were wrong.

When the lease ran out on the Four-runner, we leased a Mini-van and have had one ever since.

Now we have 2 kids and the mini-van is even more essential. It has been years since we worried about being cool.

We had an SUV for 6 years with the cool big tires and low gears. I might have driven on a dirt road a few times and maybe it snowed twice.

On the other hand, we use the remote control sliding side-doors every day.

New Parents - Embrace you lack of coolness, go Mini-van.