“Sweet ride, bro!”

“Who is that?”

“Wow!”

These are comments that teenagers want to hear when they drive to school or cruise through town with their friends. Yet a lot of the time we hear other things, like “That's your car?” or, in my case, “You drive a minivan?”

“It gets me from point A to point B,” is my usual response when people try to poke fun at the fact that I drive a van. As a teen, access to a car is not a given, so I was happy to have my mom's old van. It's a vehicle. It's not even an old, dirty vehicle. It runs well and is perfect for a first car. And I don't understand why anyone would think otherwise.

Why do we all want to be the kid with the new luxury car? Why is having the best car such a coveted distinction? In high school it seems that everybody wants to be the cool kid and drive his or her own car to school and show off. That's just the way high school is. Let the games begin … and may the richest kids win.

My friends loved to ridicule my van until Homecoming came along, and then can you guess what they said? They asked me to give them a ride! I ought to have said no, but I turned the other cheek and drove them. Even in a van we had to squish to fit. There were three girls in the back row, four girls in the middle row, and my friend and I in the front. I might not drive a hot rod, but I definitely felt like Mr. Popular with seven beautiful ladies in my car. Minivan one, cool car zero.

Honestly, who cares what you drive? Teens are lucky if they have any vehicle. You shouldn't care what people say, especially since most kids who criticize your wheels don't even have a car and will probably ask you for a ride at some point.

I love my minivan. I only wish that it was more fuel-efficient.