This weekend we said good-bye to our Honda Odyssey. Selling cars has always been bittersweet for us. This was no exception. Going out to buy our Odyssey was one of our first adventures as a family of five. Catherine and Chloe were two weeks old and Madelyn was 2. I remember running in and out of the dealership to nurse the girls and change diapers. But, oh, how nice it was to drive home with such space and luxury.Our Odyssey was our homecoming vehicle for the boys. I remember puzzling through how to fit 5 carseats in the van. It took several configurations before we found one that worked. Of course the one that worked brought stares in the school pick-up line because Madelyn had to climb under or shimmy past her brother's rear-facing carseat to take her seat. It worked though!
We traversed many miles in our Odyssey, most around town. I was never so thankful for the reliability of a Honda as I was the afternoon/night of Feb. 13, 2008. We left our house in Utah at 3 p.m. to pick Madelyn up from school. It was snowing as it did so often that winter. I didn't think anything of it until I had picked her up and was heading home. Driving was slick and visibility was getting bad. I made it about another mile, just past the entrance to Mark's work, when traffic stopped and didn't move again until rescue workers evacuated us at midnight.
Being stuck in your car with five children five and under is a helpless feeling. I knew there was no way I could get all of them anywhere by myself. We simply weren't equipped. In fact, Sam had no shoes on because he was in the stage where he took them off the moment they went on. I had no jacket, just a fleece. Catherine and Chloe wondered where their pillows were. Madelyn wondered why it was all happening. I wondered when it would stop. The good news was I had a full tank of gas, a few snacks, and a reliable car that kept us warm those nine hours.
Thank you Odyssey for being part of our family's odyssey! We're glad that you're now serving another young family whose size is increasing faster than they imagined too.
1 comment:
I remember getting melancholy when trading in for a new car when I was growing up. I even remember crying as a family about it. This was a neat post.
I had never heard the story about you being trapped in your van. I would have considered that to be a nightmare! How did you entertain the kids for that long? Did anybody have to go to the bathroom??
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