Dreaming

 I had a dream about my Father the other night. It was night time in the dream. He was driving what seemed like an old pick up truck. The windows were down and it was warm out. He was driving and I was in the passenger seat. I think he was in his 50’s…the prime of his life to me….I must have been 12, 13 or so.

I told him, “I love you Dad”. I put my head on his shoulder as he drove. He didn’t tell me that he loved me back, but I knew that he did so I felt calm and happy riding alongside of him.

I spent years and years in a car with him driving, driving to Vermont, driving to Lake George, driving to Canada….always driving somewhere. He smoked Lucky Strike unfiltered, one right after the other. It was tough when the windows couldn’t be down. He liked country music and old classics. We fought over the radio stations all of the time. He had a habit of turning my music way down when we got to a stop light or traffic, so you couldn't even hear it when the car got going again…DAD, will you turn it back up. He was always keen on a backroad or to stop at some out of the way place to get a “cup of soup”.  ( it reminds me of a place called Anne Marie's that was in Vt on the way up to the house. She made the best minestrone soup and we went in often for a cup...my mother hated it.  Thinking back,  I think she was an Italian woman and the house that was the restaurant was painted in red and green colors...this was so long ago but I remember how much we liked it there and the minestrone was like no other i've had since.) He loved diners and we frequented many. He was happy to sit at the counter drinking his coffee. He showed me all kinds of interesting things and I was happy to be the co pilot. When he had his sporty aqua colored Peugeot , he would sometimes steer crazily back and forth in a serpentine manner as he knew it would get me laughing and screaming. 

The big determinate for everything was if my mother was in the car. Everything was different then, ….no open windows no matter the season as “My neck, my neck ! "….she would immediately fall asleep on every trip even if it was around the corner. It was no fun with her in the car. Her rules applied whether she was awake or asleep. She had a habit of filing her nails in the car…to this day, the noise makes me crazy. She knew I hated it yet she made a habit of it. To this day, I have never filed my nails, oh, the sound, the vibration, the memory. She took the fun right out of any trip and often put the kibosh on any side trips or stopping.

This is the way it was….so much more I could say but I will save it for another time.

Thanks to Jane and Frankie for the pics!