Skip to main content

Hey, looks aren't everything!



It doesn't look like much - especially from this distance - but that mini van behind the tow truck was our world for many years. 

 Our family traveled nearly 180,000 miles and tallied up even more memories within the walls/windows of that Ford Windstar. It took us to Washington D.C., Florida, on countless trips to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and St. Louis. And all around this beautiful state of Michigan. It was the vehicle of choice when taking the three not-so-little Piggins on college visits and then hauling their worldly goods to the college they chose from those visits. It was easy to distinguish from every other white mini-van because there were bumper stickers from those colleges and also a couple from their high schools!

 It took the three not-so-little Piggins to golf matches, baseball and football games, auditions and rehearsals. It has held the golf team and members of the band, honors choir, quiz bowl, youth group and countless other configurations of groups. And while on the way to ski club, it served as the place to complete homework before hitting the slopes.

 We have listened to nearly every Harry Potter novel while on a vacation in that van (and after returning from D.C. we even sat in the van while it was parked in the garage so we could finish the last 15 minutes!) and a few other great books.
And as they grew and their music tastes changed the van was witness to this - and the battles for control over the radio or CD or, later, the AUX cord. 

 And behind the wheel, all three of the not-so-little Piggins learned to drive with varying degrees of patience from this mom. It has heard this mom say some pretty unkind things - when the kids were there or not! It has gotten this family safely through some terrible snow storms (and at those times likely heard some of those choice words!). And as far as this mom is aware, it was never in an accident.

 It has taken this family to doctor's visits, the emergency room and hospital. It has been the vehicle of choice for Chinese fire drills - because of the automatic sliding doors in the back. And for awhile we were convinced it was possessed because it's interior lights would suddenly blink on an off - but as it got older and tired the interior lights didn't always work. (And the automatic sliding doors stopped working as well.)

 So, it was bittersweet to see it tethered to the back of that tow truck.[ We donated it to charity (not sure which one)]. I don't think there's much life left in it and it will likely be used for parts - so it can live on for other families for many years!

 Delaney recalled recently the day we picked it up; she and her brothers were discussing which seat would be theirs. Our previous mini van had one bench seat in the middle and another in the back - and they marveled at the bucket seats. And our previous van had only one sliding door - and it wasn't a power door, so they marveled over two sliding doors. And there were separate sound and thermostat controls. We were riding in luxury! During this last year or two, Delaney had it at Webster and most of the 'bells and whistles' didn't work any longer - but it still worked.

 So fair well, Piggins-mobile. You were a good, trustworthy world.

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

The "I'll Nevers" of growing older

  Years ago as a freelance writer, I submitted an essay entitled "The I'll Nevers of Parenting". It was a list, mostly, of things I had said prior to having children and the crow I was then eating because of the stupidity of the claims. You know little pearls of 'wisdom' that only someone who hasn't experienced the joys of  parenting could utter, like: I will never yell at my child in public or I will never let my child eat dinner in front of the television or my children will never stay up past 9 pm. I yelled at my children (usually when we were both tired and totally irrational!) in public. One time, as we were in the drop off lane at school with a long line of cars behind us, the boys hoped out of the car but Delaney was insisting on something that for the life of me I cannot recall and I was insisting that she get out of the van. We crept along, van door still open, until I got to the end of the line and yelled at the top of my voice, "Delaney get the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ch ... Ch ... Chemo

I was ready. I was prepared. The potential side-effect list was long and one I'd had some familiarity when John went through his treatment.  So I gathered my arsenal. I had my compazine, zofran and antivan. I had my ginger chewables and chicken noodle soup. I was armed and potentially dangerous. So, chemo day with the toxic chemo cocktail starting to do it's job, I envisioned it as either PacMan, eating away at the cancer cells or a Chia Pet, allowing my good cells to thrive. With these visions, (that aren't quite Christmas Eve sugar plums dancing) and tired from the chemo, I went to bed early. Friday, under the watchful eye of my caregiving hubby, I slept most of the day away. Not really hungry but not nauseous either. I spent the majority of the day horizontal on the couch listening to my book on Audible (despite the sleep timer, I probably missed 1/3 of what I 'read'), dozing, answering calls and texts, and snacking.  Perhaps the highlight of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Struggling to not feel like a failure

Okay all of you 'struggling to stand' or 'not wanting to have to use a wheelchair' or others that look upon using a wheelchair as a symbol of failure, you're about to get punched. Punched in the figurative sense. I am about to go on my soap box and my Irish is up which means that I'm fairly peeved (though I've been mulling this over for awhile so I'm not as angry as I once was, which means there will be fewer expletives and a kinder tone). If you've read this blog or know me at all, you know that I did not go easily into using a wheelchair as my primary mode of transport. I too, may have had a little bit of your attitude about the wheelchair being sign of failure or of having given up. My sister, Kerri, helped put it in a different light. She said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "It's actually an energy saver since walking is stressful and you're worried about falling - using a wheelchair will take away a lot of that stress. You will hav...
Post a Comment
Read more