OK, Now I Forgot.....Oh, Now I Remember!

I love that the creators of these blog things try to keep us up to date on the latest and try to make things better all the time....BUT, because of the new changes in the format I have had the hardest time just trying to get started with this blog entry. Every time I would push a button the screen would fade several shades and freeze up! This happened about three times and by the time I finally got it to where I could at least write....I had forgotten the inspiration for my entry! AAARRRGGGGHHHH!

Oh yes. I went to The Busy Bee's blog and read her entry about her parent's new car. They bought one of those Smart Cars. It is so cute! I remember when Volkswagens came out. They were all the rage and everyone talked about how small they were and had the engine in the rear and the trunk in the front! And they were inexpensive...then....they were inexpensive. As a matter-of-fact they were so inexpensive, "I" could have bought one easily. I was after all a hairdresser making good money, just a Senior in High School and living at home with no other expenses. I had never even considered such a thing as owning my own car.

You have to understand I grew up in the 50's and 60's. My Moma did not work outside the home and did not drive. My Daddy worked as a cook for a boarding school three miles outside of town and was gone from early morning until late afternoon when he took a short break only to return and go back until around 7:00 in the evening. We lived three blocks from the main street of town and our church. I was within walking distance of everything....so....that is what I did....walk. The only thing I could have possibly "needed" a car for was to drag main.

Now, for those of you too young to know what that is....it is where you get as many of your friends in the car as your possibly can and drive a specified route around the town and wave and honk at your other friends doing the same thing, stopping only at the two places, one on either end, to get something to eat or drink and visit with your friends. In Tahlequah (tal e qua), which is where I grew up, our drag was around the Sonic, which sat at one end of town, down the four lane, turn left on main street to the street that lead up to the Rhode's drive inn. Around the drive in and back the same way around the Sonic and back again. (Now, don't ask me the name of the street, in small towns you don't mess with such trivialities, you go by landmarks. We all knew which street it was! Oh, and the Rhode's drive in was not the name of the drive in....the Rhodes' were the people who owned the drive in). Anyway, you would get on course and round and round you went! It was great fun!

But, even then, as I said, when you did drag main you took as many of your friends with you in your car as you possibly could so I could usually go with someone else dragging main.

One day my younger older brother, George Jefferson Kilpatrick the III Custom Deluxe Esquire ....(you will have to have either the Bohemian or Lizardbreath to finish his other eleventy thousand names for you, and you should, I think it takes about a full minute to say it...which is why I am not going to write it all here) ANYWAY....Neh, as I call him, says to me. "You should buy one of those Volkswagens. You could you know." Well, he got me to thinking about it and I did the research on the cost and decided to buy one. I told my Moma and Daddy and my older sister and they were all agreeable. It was as good as done.....UNTIL....my oldest brother, Seaweed, who was in the Navy and off in some foreign port at the time, told my parentst that Volkswagens were unsafe. He was in a foreign port after all, he should know. He said it would be like driving a tomato can down the street. Well, that was all it took. If Seaweed said it was unsafe, then it must be! Thanks a lot Seaweed! So...that was the end of my getting a Volkswagen.

After that I never even considered getting another car. I would just drive the family car. A 19?? Mercury Comet, fondly called "The Vomit" due to it's many endearing qualities, such as, the door on the drivers side was green while the rest of the car was ah sil...ah gra...ah rus...never mind, it was a car of a different color. And as you might expect, since the door was a different color it no longer latched and had a rope tied to the inside arm rest that had to be held by the passenger to keep it from swinging open. The horn did not work. That is unless the car was in park or you were turning left. The blinkers did not work, which allowed you to practice your hand and arm signals little known today, although it could be cold or wet upon occasions. And the heater did not work. And....what? Air conditioner? What is that? (I was told later it had a four-25 model, that is all four windows down, driving 25 miles an hour). Anyway, the Vomit would work just fine. And it did. It got me from A to B and could hold lots of friends. Of course it's availability was limited. It could even be very entertaining at times. And the great thing about the Vomit was, who would know if you dented or scratched it! Come to think of it....it was the perfect car for a new driver.

Well, so I walked to and from school, uphill both ways, in the snow a foot deep with the North wind blowing in my face with bread sacks on my feet every....no wait....that was my ....no, that was me. Anywho.....I either walked or hitched a ride upon occasion but I always got where I wanted to go.

Then one day I came walking down the street and saw a strange car sitting in the driveway. It was a very large, brand new, white, 1969 Chevrolet Biscayne. It had genuine vinyl interior and standard on the column. Who did that belong to? Turned out it was ours! WOW...A brand new car! No dents, all one color, heater and air conditioner! Amazing! Wait a minute....I don't know how to drive a standard!

I had been driving my boyfriend's car. See, while my boyfriend had a car, he was not old enough to drive it yet. He was 8mos. younger than I and did not have his license yet. Daddy didn't like it that I was driving his car, so if I was going to drive. I had to drive our car. I had a date that night and if we were going in a car it would be our car, not his. But, I didn't know how to drive a standard! SO...Daddy took me across the street to the parking lot of the church and gave me a 15 minute lesson on how to drive a stick, then took me for a drive. WAS HE KIDDING! Was he really going to turn me loose with a brand new car, with a stick shift I had had a 15 minute lesson on followed by a 5 minute drive? Yes, ladies and gentlemen he was...did. But, THAT is a whole other story!

So, back to the original purpose for writing this entry. The "little" Smart Car is cute. And I saw one today parked next to a Mini Cooper that made it look even smaller. They say the gas mileage in them is great! I am happy for The Busy Bee's parents, (and for further entertainment value, be sure you read the newspaper article and comments), and can't wait to see it in person and sit in it. It is the latest in "small" cars just like the Volkswagen was in the 60's. And the engine is in the back just like the Volkswagen......but where is the trunk?!