Labor Day Weekend

PREFACE: I just re-read my post and it seems like my sisters are spoiled and bratty and theyr'e really not, this is just one of those days...

I cannot believe it's Labor Day Weekend already! It doesn't seem SO long ago that I was excited for Memorial Day Weekend! Time really does fly sometimes. I love summer, but I really truly love the fall, it's always been my favorite season. There's something about the crisp (not FREEZING) air, foliage, sweaters... here's to a wonderful fall for everyone!

You all know by now that I have three younger sisters- - that makes four of us, obviously. By the time I turned 16 my mother was so ready to have a break from trucking us all over town that my parents bought me a car, well, technically they bought a third family car, but I was the only one old enough to drive. Let me tell you something about this car- - it was a volvo ((sigh, love)), but it was old- - REALLY old- - a 1984 turbo. This was before even the 240 model so you can imagine what it was like- - turn dial radio, no 5th gear just an overdrive button. It was old, but I loved it.

It looked just like this but it was a Sedan. Hot. I know. We had this car until my sophomore year of college. Let me clarify something though, at my college first-years were ALLOWED to bring cars to school but I was NOT because my parents felt that I needed time to adjust without being able to leave campus. This was their "parenting philosophy". Fine, didn't bother me too much.

The next sister got her license the summer before my junior year and my parents decided that, because there would be two of us driving it and I might be taking it to school occassionally, we should upgrade. And upgrade we did. To a 1990 Saab. Contain your excitement. Because I was away at school 80% of the time and when I came home I ran/rode my bike to and from work this car inevitably became Sister #2's car. No, she didn't pay for it. No my parents didn't give it to her. Yes, she called it "Her Car" and it was always a HUGE issue if I needed to use it to drive to the grocery store or something because. It. Was. HER. Car. DUH. You know what, I didn't even really care. When Sister #2 came to college with me (I was a senior she was a first-year) we got to take the car with US. Aren't I lucky? Because THIS. WAS. HER. CAR. It didn't matter that I never had a car at school and all of the sudden she's a first-year-and HASTOHAVEACAR, so POOF I get a car at school. Great. It was more convenient than not having one.

Cut to NOW. I have my very own, much newer Volvo that I love and that I don't have share or worry about someone claiming as their "own". Sister #2 is a junior at college Sister 3 & 4 are 16 and 17 and seniors in high school. All of them have their license. Sister #2 has HERCAR at school because, IT'S. HER. CAR. REMEMBER? So my parents are left sharing their vehicles with Sisters 3 & 4. Not a huge deal but that leaves the options of,

a. someone driving my sisters to school (this is what I did last year) and picking them up after.

b. someone bringing my dad to work at 6:00am and picking him up at 5pm leaving him at work for the whole day (he usually comes home for lunch).

c. my dad taking a car, and my sisters taking a car leaving my mom car-less and walking to work- it's not too far, don't worry.

None of these options are ideal and beacuse my sisters have Senior Privileges my parents want them to be able to leave school when they have a study hall. So, my dad starts thinking that he needs to buy another car to have in the mix when everyone is going in different directions. He comes home last night and tells us that he bought a 1999 Subaru Outback as the fourth family car- - HA. HA. HA. I think he meants for Sisters 3 & 4 because we know how that "additional family car" thing works out. I'm thinking, GREAT! They are so lucky to have their own car now and it's nicer than any car we've ever had for a "kid car".

Nicer, right? Well, Sister #3 FREAKS OUT. She starts complaining because she HATES STATION WAGONS. HATES THEM. WE KNOW THAT. WE KNOW THAT SHE HATES THEM. AS A SENIOR SHE WOULD RATHER GET A RIDE TO SCHOOL THAN DRIVE THAT CAR. THAT IS EMBARRASSING. CAN'T SHE KEEP MY DAD'S CAR? THAT'S SOOOOO MUCH BETTER! (and on, and on, and on, and on...)

Let's recap:

vs.

No further evidence.

Beyond mad right now. BEYOND MAD.

The Shuttle

The road that I take into work everyday is one of those roads, every city has at least one, that is replete with car dealerships. You know, one dealership on top of another, with neon signs waving crazily, "lowest prices of '07" and "manufacturer's price!" or "all 2006 have GOT TO GO!" It's five miles of toyotas, fords, hondas, range rovers, chevys, hummers, mercedes, volvos, and volkswagons. Because I work on the other side of this road I have invariably become The Car Lady. If something is wrong with someone's car and they need to have it checked out, or it needs an oil change, or something needs updating, I get THE CALL. The call where I am asked to switch cars with this person for the day, drive their car to the dealership (whichever one it may be, I go by them all) then pick their car up at the end of the day and switch back. I don't really mind doing this as it isn't completely inconvenient for me to do but through all of this dropping off and picking up I have become the SHUTTLE GIRL. That's right. I have to take the shuttle (usually a van or station wagon) to work with about 5 other people at least once a week. Taking the shuttle doesn't even really bother me, in fact, one dealership has the best shuttle around- - they actually have more than one vehicle and they call it the calvary- - it's awesome and that day I got driven to work BY MYSELF (praise the lord) in a beautiful mercedes crossover that will be the car I buy when I buy my next new car (which won't be for a very, very, very, very, VERY long time).

However, this morning I had to drop MY OWN car off and was brought to work with four other people in a volvo station wagon. Now, I'm all about volvo's and certainly all about the station wagon (this is my dream car that [finally] I acquired when I graduated from college) but their shuttle wagon is a V50 and probably the smallest station wagon volvo makes. Come on. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. They could at least bring us in the XC70 or XC90 so we're not squished in the back next to a CHAIN SMOKER because you know as soon as you're squished in the back of a car with a complete stranger they're either going to have halitosis or be a CHAIN SMOKER. I had to hold my breath all the way to work and now I have a smell-of-smoke inducded headache.