Family Pride is dead...or undead

I don't think that driving a mom van is at all funny. It has been my mode of transportation for the past 15 years and frankly, I'm tired of it. When we bought my first van, I was really thinking that a convertible mazda was just right for me! The problem really was that after fitting in two carseats, two strollers, and me, there probably wouldn't have been any room for groceries or maybe the children. That's just my luck sometimes, so I have the mom van.

Around here, I see mom vans in all sorts of decorated glory. When you go into a parking lot and there are a dozen silver minivans in the row that you thought you parked in, it is nice to recognize your car from its personalization. Admittedly, I have walked out of the gym and stood at a van wondering why my key did not open the door - only to finally realize that I was attempting to hijack another person's car.

It seems that the most popular method of personalizing a mom van is to use it as a rolling resume for your children. There are bumper stickers for honor roll students and student athlete-scholars. There are cute vacation and camp stickers to let the world know what luxury escapes your children have enjoyed. Sports decals can be customized with your child's name and their uniform number. School and college stickers can proclaim your child's academic rigors from pre-K through graduate school (at which time I hope that I can stop driving the minivan and have them move out of my house! ). You see cheerleader and gymnastic poses in silhouette and team logos for local youth sports leagues. This is generally in addition to a few random professional sports decals just to advertise that you have outside interests other than your offspring.

But I think that the most annoying of all car decorations has to be the stick figure family. If you are not familiar with these, it is a way to recognize all of the important members of your family and let the world know that not only are you married to Mr. Wonderful but you are blessed with 4 perfect children and 2 dogs, a cat, and a fish.This is a typical display:

Now, I have never put all of the brag swag on my car for my children. I have resisted the bumperstickers and window clings, until today.

Her Royal Cuteness and I spotted something in the store that really showed the true nature of our family unit. Here is my newly enhanced mom van window:

The family that eats brains together, remains together!


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