A big part of becoming a Dad for me was accepting ideas that were not my own to be successful at raising kids and leading a great family. One big rule I always stuck to though was “happy wife, happy life”. A big challenge to that rule came with a decision to buy a minivan. As a guy I felt like minivans were fine vehicles but my car should be macho all the way. I had a collision earlier in the year and at some point I was in need of a new vehicle and I looked at trucks and sport cars, but everything in my heart kept saying happy wife, happy life, so I got a minivan. Alicia’s dream car has been a Chrysler Town and Country ever since she was in junior high school so while she was out of town I set out to get one and surprise her.
Obviously she was thrilled when she came home and the boys were psyched but my opinions on minivans started to change for the better. Soon I was in love with her minivan, but do not tell her that. Driving it home from the lot I noticed the driver sits pretty high up but also it sort of drove like a truck a little bit. I drive an  SUV so I was used to having room but there was extra room between the seats and in the back and there were magical storage spaces under the seats. This just made life easier when shopping and traveling.
My favorite thing about our minivan quickly became the side auto-sliding doors. One day I was leaving Sam’s Club with our youngest child and it started to rain. I carried him, but the real hero of the story were the doors. A simple touch of the button and they were opened and he was inside. The doors make a world of difference when picking up kids from school and dropping them off and at all their other activities.
Sometimes I think the kids love the minivan more than their mom. They have the DVD player and between their seats they have books and car friendly toys. Strangely enough their favorite part is the 3rd row where they can just jump around and pretend they are hiding.
My wife truly loves the car and was happy that was her gift. She was very happy that we had it for our family vacation last April. We drove all the way to Florida from the Midwest. It was a blast for the whole family. The car was comfortable and it completely made every mile wonderful.
It is funny to think a car has such a huge impact on our family but it did wonders to bring us closer together and make life easier for our family. This is one time I am happy I followed the old “Happy Wife, Happy Life” rule and bought her a minivan as a surprise.
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