school days and cars

My sister and I were chatting last week about the start of the new
school year. With my last son starting his (hopefully) last year of
college, it was a relatively smooth process to get him off to school.
A far cry from the days of getting three on the bus for their first day
with new haircuts, shoes, lunch boxes and freshly sharpened pencils.

A twinge of nostalgia comes over me this time of year. I long for
the good old days, when the kids were mortified to be seen with us
in public. This conjures a memory, of just such an occasion, when
our youngest son was a freshman in high school. He hadn't yet
turned 16, and still rode the bus most mornings. One particularly
dark, frosty morning, he was running late, so WT agreed to give him
a lift in my car.

.

It was my second favorite car ever; a cute red Volvo 240, with the
recognizable square body they used make. (That's it in the above
photo, parked at Indiana University, one of the many times I drove
my daughter.) Sadly, my oldest son totalled Old Red and she went
to the great car lot in the sky with nearly 200,000 miles to her name.

My all time favorite was the little red VW convertible I owned in the
late 1970's. It looked just like this picture I found online. Oh, what I
would give to still have that sweet baby today. I have a funny story
about my sister and me in this car, but it will have to wait for another
post.

Anyway, I digress. So, being trash collection day, WT packed a
gigantuous load of trash barrels and junk, having cleaned out the
garage the day before, into the open trunk of Old Red. I am not
exaggerating, it rose 10 feet in the air; all he would have needed was
Granny Clampett in a rocking chair on top.

Son and WT hopped into the car, but being 6:45 a.m., a bleary eyed
WT forgot to stop at the end of the drive to deposit the junk yard
rising from the trunk, and continued out onto the road heading
toward school. As they approached the school drive, filled with sleek
Beemers and Jags depositing kids, Son says,

"Um, you can just pull over and I'll get out here."

"I don't mind driving you up to the door."

"Dad, take a look in the mirror."