I try to be a cautious driver, Joshy says I'm a granny driver. Once the kids came around, I probably became even more cautious.  I don't like to cross intersections or make left hand turns unless I'm at a light- neighborhoods excluded, obviously.... I will go a little out of my way, if there is a nearby light. When I drive, its always a fear of mine that I'll get into an accident and the side of my car, where the kids are, will get it.

On the day after labor day(3 weeks ago maybe?), I got into an accident.  We were leaving CHKD since Jacob was getting tested to possibly get speech services there, I pulled out of the parking garage, got to the light, made a left hand turn to head home, and BAM!   I didnt see the other car at all until I looked up- after the airbag was set off, my glasses, fell off, and I heard the kids CRYING...   Was one of the scariest things ever. No Lie.   It was a low-impact accident- I was driving slow, no one was injured- unless you count the scratches and bruises I got from the airbag and seatbelt- but to be in a car accident with the kids in the car, not cool. All different scenarios went through my head with what could have happened, totally thankful that those didnt occur. 

It took a while for the insurance company to get back to us, but because the airbag went off the van was totaled out.  We got more money than what we paid, so Josh was real happy-not me. I really liked that van. It was awesome. Leather seats, dvd player, navigation, parking sensors, backup camera. It was comfortable to drive.   Josh figured we could find something relatively similar for around the same price. WRONG! turns out we got even more of a deal when we got that van than we thought.  We went out one day to look at replacement vans and it was depressing.  The ones we were interested in were sold that week and the others were either too expensive or crap compared to my Odyssey.  Nothing compares to the odyssey. I'm willing to do away with all those perks I had, leather seats, navigation, cameras, dvd- I figure we can always just get our own gps and travel dvd player to put in it, but even with the basic model the odyssey reigns.  The thickness and quality of the seats....  We looked at a dodge caravan and the seats were like thin little cheap travel seats. The odysseys hearty comforts of joy. 

Its safe to say that we havent found a 'new' van yet...  I was planning on going back to work next week, but itll hafta be held off until I get my van...    Another thing to beat myself up over- if I was back to full time teaching, we'd be able to afford what I really want.   Another reason I need to finish getting my ducks in a row...