Saying goodbye to a van

a van. I almost cried as my 12 year-old van was towed off the drive way today. It is just a van but man... no it is not just a van. This has been thru the mill...a thunk, a tow and new transmission, scads of new batteries and memories of me waiting for AAA and the happy battery man. Hitting a deer on our way home from Vermont (those damn hunters), a blown air conditioner and hot summer with fresh air and wind-blown hair. Two rear enders but a strong non-dent-able bumper..."is everyone all right? Yeah, everyone except the car behind us!" A car accident with a thunderstorm and heavy rain and three kids balling forever while we waited for the damn cop to appear...and two appearances by me in court and I represented myself and I WON!! HA HA. Oh, and the carpooling, and Charlotte learning how to drive and me holding on to the seat so hard I though my circulation would quit... and my breathing, as well.

But the tree smashing this van was the last straw..I suppose.

So I get all choked up over something so stupid (I mean we could have been IN that car when the tree fell on it. The deer could have gone through the windshield and impaled us. The transmission could have dropped mid-highway, Triple AAA might have been unavailable in this neighborhood, I could have lost the case. But this van took all the heat (we did last year,too)and finally succumbed to the weight of a tree. 

This van held more than people. There is a story here. I hope I have illustrated it.