My (former) vice

I have a confession to make. I used to drive an SUV. In 1998 I bought a Honda CRV. It was a small SUV and it accommodated all of my work gear much better than any small car available at the time. The price of gas was also right around $1 a gallon back then, so fill ups were cheap. 2 years ago, in 2006, it was dying so I traded it in for a Honda Element-another small SUV. But gas had more than doubled and I was starting to feel guilty about my SUV habit. I (stupidly) chose not to look too closely at the Toyota Matrix, the only small car at the time that might have fit my purposes and I would have trusted in terms of mechanical reliability. While the Element was absolutely fantastic for lugging around all of my work gear, I felt increasingly uncomfortable about driving an SUV when gas prices had jumped skyward and would obviously only continue spiraling up. I also felt like a hypocrite criticizing large SUV drivers when I too, was driving an SUV (even if my vehicle was smaller).

As it happens, a few months ago when we replaced my husband's aging Honda Accord, he opted for the fuel efficient Honda Fit. Once he was off for summer break I started driving his car around town to save on gas. And then it happened last weekend-the last weekend in June. On Friday night he suggested that it might be prudent to dump my SUV while we could still get rid of it and while dealers might actually take it as a trade. He assumed in another 6 months or a year no dealer would touch it. So I took his Fit on a dry run the next day. I loaded up all of my gear and off I went to a gig 40 miles away. Everything fit quite nicely; certainly much better than I had anticipated. Friends and neighbors, I can attest that a Fender Passport, several large Rubbermaid cases, 20 hula hoops, a 24 pack of toilet paper (don't ask-you'd be surprised how much a pack of toilet paper can entertain a bunch of kids) and various other miscellaneous gear, can easily fit in the back of a Honda Fit...and won't block your vision while driving. (All that gear doesn't even reach the height of the headrests!)

When I got home from work we headed to the Honda dealer with my SUV. Two and a half hours later I drove off the lot, with a brand new Honda Fit. So now we're a 2 Fit family. Now I feel perfectly free to make fun at the expense of Hummer, Yukon, Suburban and Expedition owners everywhere! I also feel like I'm setting a good example for my kid.