This week I received a solicitation to buy our Christmas wreath from the Music Parents Club, the Boy Scouts were selling popcorn outside the grocery store and we received the bill for our extra "umbrella" liability insurance. All are reminders of why our "Pedros" (our blue and later our red mini-vans) were such an important part of our lives.
10. The liability insurance was purchased when I was regularly transporting Cub Scouts in Pedro #1. Can't say that I miss corralling ten hyper-active nine-year-olds in the nature center. (One of the nine, a blood relative, was perfect...but those others....)
9. Later that evolved into carrying boys and instruments. Pedro #2 often carried Kevin and his marimba downtown. This was not a simple activity! The Chicago Youth Symphony's space is in a building on south Michigan Avenue. There is NO parking on Michigan Avenue. The building had a small elevator which was actually manned by a human and, naturally, all of the marimba pieces would not fit in one elevator car. So this operation required four people. I would drive and pull up in front of the building. Kevin and Ken would jump out and remove all the marimba pieces from "Pedro" and place them on the sidewalk. My mom would also get out and stand guard of the remaining Marimba pieces on the sidewalk while Ken and Kevin took other pieces upstairs in elevator sized groupings. I would, meanwhile, either drive around until this operation was complete or go and park. At the end of the audition or concert, this process would be reversed.
8. Just after Thanksgiving, and ALWAYS on a snowy, windy, cold day, I would stop after school and pick up the twenty or so wreaths that our friends had been cajoled into buying from the Music Parents Club. The car would be piled with aromatic pine wreaths until whichever boy was currently in junior high was available to help me drive around to deliver all this Christmas cheer.
7. Soon after the wreath delivery came citrus delivery. So now Pedro and I would drive to the high school and pick up carton after carton of oranges and grapefruit. Pedro, now smelling like someone spilled orange juice on a pine tree, the current high school "bandie" and I would spend a Saturday morning hauling fruit all over town.
6. Pedro often carried the entire family: the four of us, my mom, and Ken's parents. Of course, I was elected to sit in the "way back" with David and Kevin. That got harder as they grew....but I do miss having those times with everyone together.
5. Pedro also often carried Club 62. The person with the big car (me) was usually elected to drive when we went on "Shop til You Drop" excursions at the Outlet Mall in Indiana or when we went to "El Escape" at Bonnie's house in Michigan. Pedro always returned from those events filled with either shopping bags or bushel baskets of Michigan fruit!
4. Pedro is an excellent "yak" carrier. When the kayaks were purchased about 15 years ago, it was also necessary to purchase VERY expensive molded styrofoam supports that secure the kayaks to the roof rack. A very complex series of ropes and bungee cords completed the routine. Nothing like driving 55 miles an hour on the inter-state and seeing either the red or yellow kayak beginning to slide!
3. Pedro liked school. He liked school so much that he drove both boys and all their instruments and other "stuff" to multiple summer music programs in Illinois and Michigan. He drove both of them and all their stuff to multiple dorms and apartments at Northwestern. He drove to Kevin's more advanced summer music experiences in Massachusetts and New York. He drove Kevin to many auditions in nearby states. He drove to the New England Conservatory twice. He soaked up a lot of knowledge while sitting near dorms and classrooms! He became pretty musical also.
2. Pedro liked to camp and so did we when the kids were school aged. Pedro didn't seem to mind carrying wet tents and soggy sleeping bags when we got rained out. He also didn't mind serving as a motel when the lightning and thunder were scary. He even supplied the power for the air pump!
1. Pedro loved exploring the country. He knew highway 90 well---from Albert Lea, Minnesota to Wyoming and also from Chicago to Boston. Most importantly he provided a place for us all to be "trapped" together for our vacation weeks and those were probably the best family times we've had.
About a year ago, Pedro #2 was bequeathed to Kevin upon his return from graduate school. Pedro spent last year carrying even more percussion equipment all over Chicagoland and to nearby states for auditions. In May, however, we received the sad news that Pedro was no longer safe to drive.
Pedro was replaced by another used Caravan...but Kevin refuses to call the new mini-van Pedro. He says it is a car, not a person. Maybe so, but when thinking of all that happened in our 20 years of mini-van owning, HE was part of the family!
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