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| His and Her Prius Vehicles |
Yesterday our Commuter Family transitioned from being a Ford SUV "E" family to a Toyota Prius family. And this makes me somewhat sad. Our Ford E trucks represented our parenting years for young children. The Prius cars will reflect our years raising tweeners and teens, being a Commuter Family and prioritizing protection of the earth's natural resources.
We bought our Ford Explorer in 1999 in anticipation of the birth of Oldest Son in 2000. This SUV was a representation of the best thing in our adult lives: becoming parents. Not only did we bring Oldest Son home from the hospital on a Sunday in the Explorer but we also immediately took him back to the hospital in the Explorer five minutes after arriving at home. The hospital called us with the news that our infant had a blood test indicating an infection. Commuter Husband and I rushed back to the hospital to watch as Oldest Son was quarantined and an IV was thrust in his small, bald head. Due to a cesarean birth (Oldest Son was in Frank breech position), I shuffled around slowly while remaining stoic. I was also struggling to breast feed since not enough milk production. I will never forget the tears in Commuter Husband's eyes as he dealt with both a sick baby and an emotional new mother. Commuter Husband and I had our first parenting heartache and we wanted to handle it privately thus our friend "J" thankfully managed all the communications out to friends and family. Within three days, the doctors concluded Oldest Son was the victim of a contaminated test and we loaded Oldest Son in the Explorer once again for his journey home.
Two years later we bought the Ford Expedition when we knew our family would be growing with the addition of Youngest Son in April 2002. Youngest Son was carted home in this Expedition when he was five days old. We put 180,000 miles on the Expedition. A few of our road trips included:
- Lots of camping trips to Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas (many pulling the pop-up camper)
- Beach spring breaks in South Padre
- SeaWorld in San Antonio
- Family reunion in Minnesota
- Beach vacations in Fort Meyers, Alabama and Outer Banks, North Carolina
- Visits to Brother on military bases in Louisiana and Kansas
- Five Dallas to/from Nayarit, Mexico trips (Puerto Vallarta)
- Mexico road trips to Tequila, Magdalena, Pátzcuaro, Paricutin, Janitzio Island, Cuernavaca, Sayulita, San Pancho, La Manzanilla and entire Pacific coastline from Acapulco to Punta de Mita
- Caves in Carlsbad, New Mexico and Sonora, Texas
- Transporting kids to sleep away camps
- Vacationing in Galveston
- And numerous other destinations ...
To say I loved the Expedition is an understatement. That truck holds more memories than I can possibly record. Honestly, I should write a book called The Expedition.
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| 1999 Explorer with 150K miles ... bye bye ... |
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| 2003 Expedition with 180K miles ... tear drop ... adios ... |
When we use the term "love" for a car, we are really reflecting on the stage of life, the places and the adventures experienced in that vehicle. We are feeling the music played from the radio or the CDs or whatever the technology of the moment reflects. Mostly we are thinking of passengers in both the car and in our life. Our Ford Es carried our most precious cargo into our lives: Oldest Son and Youngest Son ... love is exactly the right word.
I remember when it was time to say goodbye to our first Ford. I could not believe it was such a traumatic experience for me. All of our kids grew up in the back seat, we took that truck to Disney several times. and it always protected my family when on the road. It felt like we lost a family member saying goodbye.
ReplyDeleteKourtney @ Thomas Sales and Service Ford