Mom and The Big Brown Astro

Just a picture I found on the internet.

Having a rather large family, Mom and Dad needed vehicles large enough to be able to transport all of the kids to school, sports, music lessons, church, and trips to see family. We had two big vans that I remember. The first was a big brown van that we fondly called "Bertha." The second was also a big brown van, but it was an Astro. We kids, thinking we were quite clever, called it "The Big Ass-Tro." A way to use a curse word without getting in trouble. :)

One day, Mom was herding all of us kids to go out somewhere. At one point, she called, "Ok, kids, let's all go get in the Big Ass." Our jaws collectively dropped. She had said it!!! We quickly told her she could not say that. She replied, confused, "What, you guys call it that all the time." We corrected her and said she had to put a '-Tro' on the end or it was a bad word! She smiled to herself.

I often wondered what exactly she was thinking when things like this happened. Did she get a quiet chuckle in raising such a reaction from her children? Did she think we were silly for thinking we were so clever? Only she knows, I guess. :)