My aunt's maroon van

When I was a kid in the early 1990s, my aunt had a maroon van. I saw and rode in that van many times, so it has a moderate presence in my childhood memories. I always knew when my cousins had arrived at our house because I could hear it moaning up the driveway.

I always thought it was really cool because it had lots of little pockets and things where you could store things. It also had a means to control the radio from the first row of backseats. I remember my cousin Joey annoying his mom by switching the radio to rock 'n' roll instead of whatever she was listening to.

I remember going to a Saver's store when I was four or five (I always thought of Lifesavers when I heard of Saver's), and on that same day I got a watch that came with a stick full of candy. It was very rainy that day.

On another occasion, I remember singing along with Billy Joel on the radio (of course, I had no idea who was singing): "In the middle of the night, I go walking in my street." My cousin Jesse corrected me: "Sleep!" In fact, when I hear early 90s music, I often think of this van.

One time (I was probably about six) my aunt drove me to the zoo, and when we got there, my cousin Peter threw up on the sidewalk in front of the van, so my aunt had to tell the person when we got our tickets that he had thrown up in front of the "maroon van." That was the first time I heard it called that. (It may have been the first time I ever heard the word "maroon.") When we got done for the day, we saw a wet spot in front of the van where Peter had thrown up.

Then I think I was probably seven or so when my mom got a call that they had been in a wreck. I was jealous that my cousins got to be in a car wreck, since I had never been in one.