On today's Memoirs: Mini-Van Adultry. What's your stance?

There has been a loss & a new addition to the Farm Family. Hank, Husband's Silverado, has gone to live with another, smaller family...as soon as the dealership finds one for him. And Babe has come to take his place.

Hank had transmission problems earlier in the year and Husband has been suspicious of Hank's intentions since. Going anywhere in Hank means finding a baby sitter, so that's a mark against him. So Hank lost his place of honor. Personally, I had nothing against him, but he wasn't My Truck.

Husband picked out Babe all by himself on Tuesday while I was getting the FarmHands ready to drive 80 minutes to see a doctor for 3 minutes and turn around and drive home. Yesterday, he took me to meet her, sign her papers and bring her home.

It was love at first sight.

I love Babe. I love her shiny blue exterior. I love her dual sliding power doors. I love her touch screen media center (although I think I need a class on how to use it). I love her Fold and Go seats. I love, love, love her Sirius XM radio. The FarmHands (and by association, I) love her dual flip down DVD players. In fact, the only thing (thus far) that I do not love about her is the lack of auto headlights (that's just weird...she has a 30 GB hard drive but manual headlights).


But part of me feels horribly guilty because we seem to be leaving Mammy out in the dust...literally. I drove her into town today to register the FarmHands for school. I was all alone in her massive interior sans car seats. The kids' CD wallet has been taken out of her door & is about to be stashed away in Babe's interior. The kids' blankets are no longer tucked safely under her seats but are instead, hidden away in Babe's Fold & Go storage bins. She is an empty shell. And I'm pretty sure she knows why.

I remember just how much in love with Mammy I was in the beginning. She was our protector. She was our home on wheels as it were. And now we have demoted her to Driving-Dad-to-Work mode and parked her in the space farthest from the house so Babe can be away from the acorns that will be falling very soon.
I'm cheating on my first mini-van love with a new, younger, fancier version of her. Poor Mammy has to sit in the drive way & watch. I still love her. Unfortunately, she doesn't ride quite as smooth as Babe and I have children prone to motion sickness (not to mention the Pimp-My-Ride aspects of Babe).

I hope she can find it in her internal combustion heart to forgive me and continue to serve us well...even if she has to sleep next to that flashy floozy every night.