Tribute to Our Family Van

Today we sold our thirteen year old Hyundai van. It was time, but I am feeling nostalgic about saying good-bye to it. As Oldest Daughter commented when I told her that Dear Husband and I had made the decision to sell, "A lot of good memories are connected to that vehicle." Indeed.

We joked that Tayta was our expensive child as her birth necessitated our purchase of a six-seat vehicle. In the limited and expensive Jordanian car market there were very few affordable-to-us options. In 2001, the Hyundai Trajet (we pronounced it with a French accent, such as ours is) entered the market, and we purchased our first, and probably last, new-from-the-dealer car.

I liked the sturdy doors and the fact that there were four of them. The kids liked the fold-down trays in the first row of the back seats. They probably reminded them of familiar airplane seating. Tayta good-naturedly remarked that she never got a bucket seat--until her older sister and brother left for college, that is.

2001 Hyundai Trajet 

Dear Husband took the photographs for the ad he placed to sell the van.

Our family has lived a lot of life in this van: uncountable trips to the store, the baseball field (including a cracked windshield compliments of a foul ball), the music conservatory, King Hussein park for early morning family runs, Wadi Dana, packed to the gills with people and camping food, and hither and thither all around the Jordanian countryside.

Tayta reminded me to mention the Kids' Meetings. "What Kids' Meetings? I asked.

Smiling slyly she said, "You didn't know about them because they were kids' meetings."

"Then how am I supposed to mention them??!"

Apparently the Kids' Meetings were called and held in the back aisle of the van after church on Saturday night. During these covert meetings, the kids planned and strategized as to how they could get Dear Husband and I to agree to a movie or games, or a "camp-out" in the family room.

The Kids' Meeting place

A Korean friend told us that Korean cars are built to run approximately 160,00 miles (200,000 km), at which point they retire their car and buy an new one. We reached that milepost about three years ago, but in Jordan, where cars are expensive and labor is cheap(er), we do what we can to keep on keeping on. As our van is in its twilight years and Dear Husband and I will be a true twosome next year, we decided that now was the time to sell. I will miss the space, and the elevated seats. I won't miss Dear Husband spending his days off driving to Amman for parts to keep the car running well or the high gas costs. And I had to face our new reality: downsizing  to a sedan is an acknowledgement that we just don't need a big car any longer. It is improbable that we'll have all the kids (and spouses) in Jordan at one time, but if we do, Dear Husband promises me that we can rent a car. A big one.

Thanks for the memories, oh Trajet! And I thank God again, as we have many, many times over the years, for the provision of this van. 

Postscript: The van sold quickly for a price that would probably be considered robbery in the US. The buyer, himself with a large family, is very glad to have it, aging parts and all. Dear Husband took him to talk to our mechanic to make sure that he had full disclosure of the van's mechanical history.