Riding This Electron Hanging on for Dear Life

My favorite memory is from shortly afterward, and I remember it like it was yesterday. My sister and I were sitting in the back seat of my father’s 1959 Chevrolet Impala. It had a black body, white hardtop, and a black-and-white hounds tooth fabric interior trimmed with four inches of black vinyl. My mother was sitting on the passenger side with my five-year-old sister in the middle up front, my older sister in the back behind our mother, and me behind our father, the driver. I was ten years old. It was eleven in the morning, and we were going to see my favorite grandparents. The summer was young, and my sister and I were exhilarated because our summer vacation was just beginning. Being young, the days seemed to last forever, and the return date for school seemed an eternity away. The windows were down because the heat was already upon us. Driving fast on the back winding, hilly roads were my father’s passion. The radio was turned up loud to drown out the road noise. A song by Nat King Cole came on; it was “Roll Out Those Lazy, Crazy, Hazy Days of Summer.” We knew the song and were all singing along, but when it came to “Those days of soda and pretzels and beer,” my father broke from the song and said to us in the back seat, “Hey, you guys are too young to drink beer!” We all laughed hysterically as my sister and I were sliding back and forth in across the back seat while traveling along the curvy, bumpy road. Every time that part of the chorus came back, my father would chime in, and it got funnier every time. We kept singing the song until it ended.

When we got to my mother’s parents’ house, three children and two adults climbed out of that car so filled with joy that it burst out of us and into my grandparents. They were able to capture our mood, it was contagious and we had the most wonderful day together. I never wanted it to end. It is a memory I will never forget. It is how I compare things today to the happiest, most joyful day of my life. To this day it hasn’t been, and probably ever be, replaced as the most joyful day of my life.