The Light is Flashing 12:00

I'm now officially well over 40 and starting to feel my age. As I mentioned, after 8 years of mini van, I'm starting off new with a little car.

Technology has zipped by me like VHS to DVD to Blueray. I am stuck in the post 8 track, post cassette era and, as far as I can tell, we no longer need CDs either, but I'm scared to admit it.

My new car needs to come with a college level course for old, technologically unhip folks. Navigation? I was so excited to have you in my life, until I've listened to you tell me how to get to my house, and only my house, for weeks. Turn you off? Love to. But, where is the power button?

I have so many radio stations at the flick of my thumb that I'm always changing the channel by mistake. There is a phone, but how to dial it is beyond me.

My husband was like a parent on Christmas morning giving me a puppy. His eyes were shining and he was so excited that he got all of the new-fangled gadgets on my new car for me. Trouble is, even with the manual in hand and sitting in my running car in the driveway for hours, I have yet to understand just how to do the basic things.

Case and point, I had the pleasure of gassing up this clean diesel car for the first time yesterday. I actually got the gas pump nozzle stuck in the car. I had to be rescued at the self serve station. Not only did I need rescuing, the guy rescuing me had to be rescued. Apparently, I have something to figure out with the gas tank.

It's like the eternal flashing 12:00 display on my old VCR. Can I learn to live with and ignore my technology indiscretions.

Seriously, folks, I will need to properly fill my car with gas. Where does one learn this?

Good Bye Mini Van, Hello Little Car

Well, it happened as if by magic. Our new car finally arrived.

We talked for months about trading in the van. Every time the conversation began, Birk cried with fits of tears. She loved the van, couldn't we save it for when she learned how to drive?

I didn't have the heart to tell her that there was no way that she would want to be driving this van around in 8 years. That is one of the things that parents just know and kids have to learn.

Her main reason to keep the van? You could eat In and Out in the van and fold down the seats for a private restaurant. For some reason, after all of the cool experiences I've provided for my children, they remember eating in the mini van as a highlight.

We are now squishing into the little car. It is zippy and cute, but it can't hold a candle to a Costco run with the mini van.

Ahhhhh, a chapter has ended. I, as a mom, provide hope to younger moms that they, too, "will someday get rid of the van." At least, this is what they tell me.

Now, every morning, I inhale the yummy new car scent and every morning, my kids complain that their car smells like a rental car.

Who doesn't love the smell of off-gassing? The younger generation, go figure!