This is Mr. Handsome again. My last post ended with Ellie and I looking to buy a minivan. I finally came to terms with the idea. It was actually a very freeing experience when I realized that I could give up any pretense of being hip and cool because no one will ever think I have any ounce of “hip” or “cool” left in me when I drive up in a minivan.
We searched online for used cars but found the current used car market to be way overpriced. Many of the used minivans were actually over our budget because they all had fancy features, like leather seats and sun roofs. So we drove into the nearest Honda dealer and asked for the cheapest minivan they had. No bells and whistles, just the stripped-down version. We looked like a very sorry lot, Ellie and I disheveled with Little Buddy climbing all over us, and the dealer said “We have just the vehicle for you.”
We had to travel to the far corner of the lot to find the last 2020 model. Let’s just call it the “basic” model. No automatic lights, no automatic doors, no leather, nothing more than 4 wheels and seven seats. The vehicle had only 6 miles on it and had apparently never been test driven. The poor thing looked very lonely, just hoping for a family to adopt it. “My boss said he will knock $4,500 off the sticker price,” the salesman said. I think he wanted to get rid of both the vehicle and us.
And I wasn’t about to complain. After a quick test drive, we headed inside to sign the paperwork. Little Buddy must have been very excited about the new car because he began running through the dealership, singing/making high-pitched squeals at the top of his lungs. He was also impressed by the shiny new cars and was eager to leave fingerprints on each one. As we were looking at the paperwork and talking about financing, Little Buddy let us know his opinion of the documents by pulling them off the table and throwing them on the floor.
“Perhaps we could take y’all into the employee lounge to finish the paperwork,” suggested the salesman. Little Buddy loved this idea because the employee lounge had a sink. While were signing documents, he pushed a chair over to the sink, turned it on, and began splashing water all over himself.
When we finally drove away in our new minivan, I think the dealership threw a celebration.
