It Is My Favorite And My Best

For the past (almost) eight years I have been driving perhaps the most uncool car in history: the Dodge Minivan.  When we were first married we anticipated having a family relatively soon and we also thought we might be moving a bit (as apartment dwellers tend to do).  A minivan seemed like a reasonable solution to our potential driving needs.  We bought a silver one in the fall of 1999, and while I cannot truthfully say that I hated driving it, I did fully understand and feel the uncoolness of it all.  It was a soccer-mom vehicle, and a soccer mom I was not.  It served its purpose for many a year, carrying sheets of plywood and sheetrock as we battled through fixing up our three houses, or tarps full of leaves to the recycle center in town, or boxes and dog crates and bunny cages when we moved. 
And then we did have kids, and the van quickly became my hated nemesis because minivans are not very car seat friendly, as it turns out.  Our van pre-dated the LATCH system for car seat installation, thus we had to use the lap and shoulder belts to install them.  And minivans are not as roomy as you would think, so it was nearly impossible to put two car seats on the same bench seat and still be able to buckle an actual child into the seat.  But if one child rode in the way-back, that child was far away and felt left out.  Not to mention the fact that installing the seat in the middle made it impossible to get into and out of the way-back seat without crawling through a maze of seatbelt.  It came down to one solution:  the van had to go. 
Hooray! 
So Momma's got a brand-new ride, a Chevy HHR, Golden Teal Metallic, and it is pretty and fun and functional and has a great radio and it's pretty!  I love it!  I have told Brendan every day for the last week, sometimes several times per day, that I love it.  And I do.  Love it.  Did I mention that it is pretty?  Harry likes her, too, and has named her "Fancy", as in Fancy New Car.  She has a suped-up stereo system (which I so need when I'm carting around my kids, you know?) and various other lovely things like a remote car starter, power windows and doors (which the van lacked), power driver seat adjustment, sunroof, etc.  I love it. 
I am not really an "automobile = image" type of person.  I could care less whether my car cost $60,000 or $10,000...well, actually I do care, because I would never buy a car that cost that much (60k) because I am not an idiot.  But I do like to drive a vehicle that feels good, that fits my build and allows me to see over the steering wheel.  I also like cargo options, seats that fold down, and if I had my way I would be driving a rehabilitated very old car.  I like curves more than sleekness, and old-fashioned fins, spoilers and running boards make me smile.  I like safety for myself, my husband, and my kids.    I like decent gas mileage.  And, as it turns out, I like a nice stereo system, especially for those rare moments when I am alone in the car and can listen to anything I want.  You will never see me driving a huge SUV...I think humvees are a ridiculous waste of road space and fossil fuel. 
So my new car is perfect, a combination of old and new, great safety reportings and very decent miles per gallon.  It is my favorite and my best car ever.  I also think that it only looks good in a few of the color options available.  In black it resembles a hearse, in white a delivery truck.  In golden teal metallic it is perfection.  I am very opinionated, though.