The time has come. I knew it would happen someday, but still, it seems too soon. I have turned into a full-fledged, card-carrying adult. The evidence? I have purchased a grocery-getter.*
(Dramatic pause for your gasp)
For the past month, Pete and I have been car shopping. The main criteria was that the car was all-wheel drive because if I'm driving the kids around on slippery roads, I wanted a safe car. That narrowed down the vehicle field. Initially I was drawn to the Nissan Juke, which not only has a cool name but is a super awesome little car. I was so excited - black and red interior - just what I need! Then I saw the trunk space and that's when I knew. I was old. I recoiled as I looked at the trunk and said, "I couldn't get a day's worth of groceries in that thing! There's no way that will work." We settled on the Subaru Outback - not only is it known as a safe car, it is all-wheel drive and...it has so much space! My boys have a ton of room in the back seat and I can buy a week's worth of groceries without worrying about space. That's right, I have a freaking grocery-getter and I'm stoked.
When did I start wanting to make responsible, family-friendly purchases willingly? It started slowly with the Dyson (Best. Vacuum. Ever.) But still I didn't see the signs of responsible adulthood coming and now I have a glorified station wagon. But in my defense, I'm not the only one to succumb. Just last week I was out to dinner with my two best friends. As we sipped our wine, we waxed on about the virtues of new windows and debated how to keep a basement from flooding - it would probably be worth the money to have the basement repair people check it out. Time out! How did we get here I want to know!? I met these women in my very early twenties and worked at Victoria's Secret with them - I have had such silly moments with these two and not once did they involve expensive windows or cargo space. Our worlds have evolved from perky bra to nursing bras.
And that's okay. We all have families now that we love more than we could ever describe. We want to provide safe houses and vehicles for them. It is just odd when you realize that without noticing, your priorities in life have completely shifted. In our early twenties, we were trying to figure out how to graduate college while going to class as little as possible (maybe that was just me.) In our later thirties we are trying to figure out which sports leagues to sign our kids up for and if we can make it to all of the practices. My clothing purchases have shifted from expensive bras to expensive sports shoes. Our younger years parties were BYOB; now we are organizing potlucks for soccer tournaments - and having as much if not more fun. Change is good. Eventually we'll cycle again as we go through the empty nest phase and I'll be back in my smaller cars and my friends will buy cruises instead of windows. Thank goodness for lifelong girlfriends because I'm hoping to go with them! But for now, we are too busy figuring out bus schedules to look up cruise packages.
I must confess, I was super excited to go to Costco today - how much will that trunk really hold? And my fate as an adult is sealed.
*No vans ever. Seriously. I know how much some of you love them. I have to draw the line somewhere.
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