Here's how it all began. A few months ago, we started noticing that Nick's feet were brushing the back of the passenger seat in my Tribute. His feet would dangle off the end of his car seat, but he didn't have any legroom between his feet and the seat in front of him. To remedy this, we moved him to middle of the seat. However, that quickly posed it's own problems - mostly with getting him in and out of the seat and getting buckled. So a few weeks later, we moved him back to his original position and moved the passenger seat forward as far as we could get away with, without cramming a passengers knees into the dash. That worked great! Until Nick hit his next growth spurt. Now that his legs were getting even longer, we found ourselves in the very same spot again. Additionally, no matter where we put his seat, it left little (comfortable) room for backseat passengers. There was no getting around it. We were outgrowing our little SUV.
So, the search began. We'd decided long ago, after several rides in both my sister's and my cousin's Chevy Tahoes that our next vehicle would undoubtedly be a Tahoe or a Yukon. We loved everything about them, and were SO excited to finally be looking for one for ourselves. We've been looking for a couple months now, but we kept running into walls. Great price, high mileage. Low mileage, ridiculous price. Great price, great mileage, too far away. Close by, great price, decent mileage, previously owned by a chrome-junkie. You get it. Time and time again, we found the "almost" right one, but never the perfect combination.
Fast forward to last week. While on yet another internet search, I found myself looking over the inventory of a local dealership and saw a listing for a van for well under our price point. I absently said to myself "Sheesh, it's too bad we're not looking for one of those..." Insert light bulb over head here. I clicked on the link and the love affair began. Sort of.
In this little temptress, I found all the bells and whistles we were looking for in the Tahoe, but for literally thousands less. And the mileage was better. AND the doors opened at the press of a button. What mom worth her weight in diapers wouldn't be thrilled by all this?? What mom? This mom. Yes, it had literally everything I was looking for. But it's a minivan! Excuse me, a "mini". I was baffled by the fact that I was even looking at this listing, let alone considering bringing it up to Jason. But inexplicably, bring it up I did. And the more I talked about it, the more I (gulp!) liked it. And what's more, the more I talked about how I couldn't believe I liked it, the more I realized....I really wanted this "mini". So Thursday on my lunch break, I went to drive it. Part of me wanted to love it even more, and part of me wanted to hate it. I wanted some of the mental "shiny" that I'd attached to this
All of those thoughts were banished with one press of button. That button being the button that automagically opens Nicholas' sliding side door. With the press of that button, I instantly foresaw grocery trips simplified. Morning battles for independence to "open the door myself!" banished. Life, remade. With that one little button, the blinders were taken off and this "mini" took on a whole new light. It was love at first press. Everything else I saw after that was just leather coated icing on the minivan cake.
So yes, this weekend Jason, Nicholas, and I went back as a family to check out this new love of my life. We loaded Nick's seat up and made sure that yes, he does indeed have plenty of leg room. And a DVD player. And his own cup holder. And in case you missed this little detail, his very own automagically opening sliding side door. After riding in it, Nick claims to love "the blue car". We decided to sit down with the finance manager for some wheel'n and deal'n. However, fate stepped in and Jason got a work call that called him back to the apartment complex before we could finish anything. So, they have our info, they're going to run some numbers and call me tomorrow morning. Even though I LOVE this "mini", both Jason and I are very comfortable with not trying to force the money side of things. If they call tomorrow and don't have a great deal (great as in my payments go down, which based on all my math, they definitely should), then I'm okay walking away from it. It will hurt, and I will miss it, but if it's not meant to be, I don't want to force it. Even still, I feel like I'm waiting on the follow-up phone call after a great first date.
In case you're interested, here is my new found love.
