Getting used to my new ride will take some time

We got the news from the mechanic last week: our minivan needed several costly repairs. That, along with the fact that our old girl was nine years old and inching toward the 100,000-mile mark, helped us make the decision. It was time for a new van. Mark and I spent the afternoon Saturday looking at Toyota Siennas. Boy was I glad to have Mark there. I hate to be a female cliche, but I would not be good at purchasing a vehicle. When we zeroed in one we liked, to my amusement, the salesman actually said, "What would it take to have you drive home in this today?" Well-played, sir. Mark haggled while I sat there placidly, and finally they reached a deal.

We picked up our new (used) van on Monday. It's a pale blue Sienna and probably the nicest car I've ever driven. The biggest bonus: one of the side doors has the power sliding feature. When I'd first heard of these, I thought, come on, who really needs that? Now that I have three kids, I see: me. It's a beautiful thing.

In fact, I have loved everything about the new van. Except for one thing. One of my least favorite things in the world is looking like an idiot in front of other people. The people in question here are the nice ladies who help the kids out of the car at Ben's school. The van has some new features that are taking me a while to learn. My fear of looking stupid and my desire to get Ben out of the car quickly so as not to clog the drop-off lane has led to some major performance anxiety for me. As soon as you begin to drive, the van automatically locks and stays locked until you put it in park. I'm not used to that, so when I dropped Ben off the first day, it took a lot of fumbling in order to unlock the van.

So, yeah, it's taken me a couple days to remember all the steps I need to follow to get my son freed from the van. Yesterday, after trying to open the locked door yet again, one of the drop-off ladies told me, a little peevishly, "You've got to remember to put it in gear first!" Today I was determined to do it right. I pulled up to the same lady. I reminded myself that I must put the car in park in order to unlock the doors. I was ready. I reached for the gear shift - in the place where it was in the old van. And turned on the windshield wipers. I frantically reached for the gear shift and put it in park. I couldn't even make eye contact with the woman. Today she must have felt sorry for me. "Don't you just love getting a new vehicle - all this new stuff to figure out?" she said. Indeed.