The one with the mini-van envy...

By Preschool Mom

I am not a car person. To me a car is just a means of getting from point A to point B. When I got my last car, my two requirements were cup holders and a clicker to open the door, beyond that I was pretty clueless. Imagine my surprise when I found myself with a major case of mini-van envy.

Like a lot of my friends, my husband has flat out refused to buy a mini-van. I don't know if it is some sort of macho thing or an age thing, but he shuts the door on the subject every time I even so much as mention it. Of course, he is not the one schelpping two kids, an infant seat, a stroller and the rest of the crap that goes with kids day in and day out. He works from home; sometimes he goes days without even getting in a car! But after several years of gentle hints and heavy guilt trips I stopped even bringing it up. That all changed on a recent trip.

We just took our first plane/rental car/hotel trip with both kids. Before I always dreaded trying to get two or three large suitcases, three carry-ons and a stroller in a car the size of a bathroom stall (we go cheap with the rental cars). This time I gently reminded my husband that we now had two kids worth of crap and he seemed happy to shell over a little more cash to get an SUV. When we got to the counter to upgrade, they said it would be $20 more a day for an SUV. We said we would take it, but before the agent could book it the price jumped to $49 more a day. Instead he offered us a mini-van for $15 more a day, I looked at my husband with hopeful puppy-dog eyes, and he finally caved!

It took less than three minutes for me to completely fall in love with the Chrysler Town and Country mini-van. You push a button and the doors slide open. You push the button again and they slide closed. You put the car in reverse and the back-up camera shows me that no one is hiding behind the car. Love.At.First.Sight.

The entire way to the hotel I gushed about the van. I called my mom to gush about the van. I called my friend who owns one of these vans and gushed to her about the van. I couldn't stop smiling thinking about the van. I tried the puppy-dog eyes again on my husband, and he told me to enjoy the rental because that was the only way I was going to ever get a mini-van.

The next day I got a chance to tool around in the mini-van with just the baby. As I sat at a traffic light singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" a small sedan pulled up beside me. The windows in that car were down and two young couples were acting the way you do when you are young and at the beach and having fun. They were hanging out the windows, singing to the radio and laughing at life. I saw them glance over at me a time or two and I swear I could read the mockery in their eyes.

For a moment I thought I should hide my face as I sat behind the wheel of the mom-mobile. Then I realized I had nothing to hide for, I loved my ride! As much fun as those kids were having, I had no envy for them. My sweet baby boy was in the back seat, I was on my way to pick up my big kid and I didn't want to be anywhere else.

It was hard to hand those keys back over at the end of our trip, and even harder to not pout like a child when my husband once again said no to a van, but at least I had the memory of those few days with my dream car. And honestly, I have high hopes that by the time we actually do buy a new car there will be an SUV that will not only have push-button doors, it will also change my kid's diapers.

Inspired...

Set your DVRs for June 16, CNN

by Climber Mom

I had the opportunity to see the film Girl Rising the other night (okay a couple weeks ago, I'm a slow blogger). I left inspired and feeling lucky.

The film spotlights the stories of nine unforgettable girls born into unforgiving circumstances. Each of these girls, from India, Peru, Egypt, Haiti, Aphganistan, Siera Leone, Cambodia and Ethiopia, overcome great obstacles to receive an education. They know an education is the only way to a better life and they desperately want to learn.

These girls, and in some cases their families, are an inspiration. While we so often complain about attending school and find ways to skip school, they are sacrificing everything to attend school.

In one story that really touch me, a couple in India has three daughters, and the family lives on the street. There education is not free. But rather than staying in the comforts of their old village or saving their small income for a place to live, their father insisted they leave their rural village for the city, where his daughters could be educated. The family has to pay for each child to go to school, and they have to pay for books and uniforms for each of their daughters. And they pay it. The have no home and often go hungry, but they make sure they pay for school, so their three daughters will have a chance for a better life.

Another girl who survived the earthquake in Haiti desperately misses school, but her mother has no money to send her to the tent school that has been set up nearby. So determined to be educated, she goes everyday and refuses to leave until they teach her. A young girl in Afghanistan is married and a mother at 12 years old. She risks death to tell her story and go to school. But she does it, she believes that strongly, she wants something more for her life.

I left that movie thinking about each of these girls and touched by all of their stories, all different all powerful, all willing to do anything to get an education.

I left thinking, how lucky we are in the United States. Every child in this country has the right, by law, to a free education.Yes, our education system has a lot of problems and there are huge discrepancies in the types of education different school systems offer, but regardless every child in this country can go to school and can learn to read for free.

We still have a long way to go for women in this country to be equally represented in board rooms, to receive equal pay for equal work and for all our classrooms to provide a quality education and to make that education more accessible to all. But compared to others around the world, we are lucky. We all have the opportunity for an education. We have the right and opportunity to choose our future.

I hope that I can instill in my son what a privilege that is and the power that opportunity provides.

I was equally inspired by this story. A woman that works for RTI International, where I work, shot this short video of a little girl in Liberia. Her family had planned to marry her off young as is the custom. But this woman was so touched by this child's passion and desire to learn that she talked to her family and got them to agree not to marry her off. In exchange she is paying for the little girl's schooling all the way through college. Talk about making a difference in someone's life.

These are the stories I will remind myself of when we worry about the perfect school for our child, or complain about how much homework our children get, or stress over his grades. Our first world problems are nothing compared to what these girls and their families face.

According to the film, in the developing world, 66 million girls worldwide are not so lucky, they aren't in school. They are left uneducated, with little opportunity, vulnerable to assault and disease.

But many are finding a way despite all odds. They inspire me.

Girl Rising airs on CNN June 16, set your DVRs, watch it with your children, talk about it.