Keyless Entry

Last November our mini van needed expensive repairs to earn its inspection sticker. For months, we'd lived with having to reach to the left hand side of the door to manually unlock all the doors. We had lived with the heat only coming on when we turned the knob to its highest level. Yet we bit the bullet and decided that despite our hopes of getting through the year without another car payment, it was time to go shopping.

We made a rather quick decision after my husband checked out options at several southern Maine dealerships and I spent an afternoon browsing used models on a local dealership's website. By the time my husband arrived home, I had possible options narrowed down to five vehicles. We decided we'd go shopping locally the next day. We were probably the easiest of customers they had worked with all week. We had made our choice within 30 minutes.

Driving home--all of 10 or so miles--we were excited. Although we had not planned on getting the new van until the old one had pushed us to reconsider, we were enjoying the amenities of having a newer ride. As my son checked out all the cup holders and ceiling storage areas, my husband was thrilled about the stow-and-go seats which would do away with having to store the back seats of the van in the garage when we needed the extra room. Sure, I enjoyed the bells and whistles of the various changes to the newer van but truthfully I was most happy to have the chance, once again, to keep a clean car. The kids were older now. We'd all do better with clearing garbage, dirt, and other such things this time around.

However, another favorite part of the new van is something perhaps many people take for granted with their new cars, the keyless entry remote. Seriously, how did I ever live without this before? Not only can I unlock doors for everyone getting into the van with the click of a button but I can use it to have the lights flash, thus showing me the location of my van when I've forgotten which row I parked in at the grocery store! Oh sure, it would have been nice to have gotten heated leather seats that had been available in one of the models we looked at, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

The only downside (besides the obvious monthly car payment) to the new van and its keyless entry remote, is that I am now quite unsatisfied that I have to use a key to unlock the door to my house. I find myself wanting only to push a button to enter, and I'm wishing also that my front door would open for me when my arms are full of groceries. I also want the refrigerator door to open with a remote as I go to put food away, and while we're at it, why can't the pantry doors open this way too?

That's the trouble with buying a new car, even a new "used" car, suddenly, nothing is good enough for me. I've been spoiled. One day, over the sound of the blower turned up high, I am in the driver's seat using sign language to talk to the person next to me and doing extreme yoga formations to unlock all the doors for the kids waiting outside in the cold, and the next I am locating my new van in a busy parking lot and unlocking it with a click of a button! Good Lord. I shiver at the thought of who I would have become had I gotten those heated leather seats.