Dumb car ride games

1955 Buick Special- built like a tank

As long as I can remember, one of my fondest memories was taking trips in the family car. The first car I remember us having was a 1955 Buick Special. This mammoth hunk of Detroit steel was built like an Abrams tank. Not exactly the best handling behemoth on the road but, good grief, did it have room inside! Back in the days of no seat belts and "three on the tree" manual transmission shifters, I would lay across the rear seat deck (under the rear window) as we rumbled down the road. If the brakes were ever slammed on, I would fly forward and crash into the rear of the front seats. Ah, the good ol' days.

To this day, I still love driving places on day trips, long weekends or even week long driving vacations. I love to stop at the trashiest tourist attractions and eat at places that Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives hasn't even found yet. A few years ago, Michael and I made an I-40 road trip from Augusta to Asheville, NC, to Knoxville, TN to Nashville and ended up in Memphis. Why? Our goal was to eat as many meals of barbecue ribs as we could, see Graceland, Sun Records Studio and hang out on Beale Street. Carol still thinks we are both nuts.

How cold is it?

After I had my own family, car trips or vacations would typically generate some interesting games or contests. Contests like...who can guess what the lowest outside temperature will be (according to the car's outside temp gauge) by the time we get to our hotel in the mountains? What time do you guess we will cross the river back into Georgia? (I always won this one...I had control over the speed of the car...) Only years later after acquiring some basic mathematical acumen of their own did the kids figure out how I could guess so accurately. (For the mathematically challenged...a car traveling 60 miles per hour will go a mile each minute...if the mile marker I just passed said we were 29 miles from the border...voila! it's gonna take 29 minutes. Of course I could also slow down or speed up as necessary in order to make the time I chose hit exactly when we crossed into the next state.) The kids thought Dad had some mysterious power.

One of the most interesting hour long games was: If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life and you were assured that it would be nutritionally adequate for good health, what would it be? The food could be prepared multiple ways but it had to basically be just one food item (condiments, simple additives are allowed.) First, I got screamed at that my question was ridiculous because no one could survive on just one food for the rest of their life. So I had to explain again the hypothetical caveat that whatever food you chose in my make believe scenario would be completely nourishing. Then I get a million clarifying questions asked. You would think I was asking them to jump off a bridge. Finally grasping the concept, they begin to give answers.

 I'm pretty sure Carol's answer was rice since Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were disallowed for being a candy not a food. Rice was a pretty good answer though...steamed rice, fried rice, rice pilaf...lot's of ways to enjoy rice and lots of different kinds of rice...Carol takes an early lead in the contest. I think Michael's answer was some type of meat...chicken or steak maybe...can't remember exactly. I was proud of my carnivorous son for giving a manly answer though. Jessica cheated and said something like salad. Buzzer goes off...no--- salad is not a single food ...do you mean lettuce? Then 15 minutes of arguing before Jessica picks another food item...I think it was a fruit. She kept thinking she needed to choose something healthy since it was the only thing she could eat for the rest of her life. Tiring of my silly game, I just let her stick with her fruit choice. Being a good ol' Irish boy, my pick was...potatoes. Boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, crinkle french fries, scalloped potatoes, potatoes au gratin, hash browns, baked potato, potato chips, potato sticks, home fries, potato pancakes, waffle fries, curly fries, tater tots... I went on and on with my assortment of potato dishes.

The incredibly versatile potato

Then the the car just went quiet. They knew that Dad had won again. Then they all verbally attacked me for playing such a stupid game. Sore losers.

Fun times in the car with the family...having a blast playing silly games and actually...talking to each other (with a little shouting added in.) Turn off the radio, take out the earbuds, put down the book or computer and have a good old family competition. Dumb car games.

So, if you could only eat one food item for the rest of your life (and that food item would be nutritionally perfect for you) what would it be?

Her name is Carol

30 years. Three decades. 10,958 days. No matter, how you calculate it...it's  a long time. On February 9th, I will have been married for 30 years.

The first time I met Carol, a mutual friend introduced us...we gave each other the once over, smiled...said hi and we both went about our way not even thinking twice about the other. The second time we met... probably a year later...well, that is a different story. Within a month of that second encounter I was pretty sure this was the woman that I wanted to marry. I was in LOVE. 5 months later, we were, in fact, married.

For those of you who know my wife, when you read this, I expect that you will be nodding in agreement.

Carol is the kindest person I know. She cares deeply about others. She talks to anybody...she talks to everybody. It doesn't matter to her if you are the president of the bank or the lady that cleaned our hotel room...she will strike up a conversation with you and genuinely be interested in what you have to say. She is polite, respectful and is never trying to draw any attention to herself. She always wants to help without looking for anything in return. She loves her family. She is a great friend. She is a hard worker. She loves to laugh.

I can't speak for Jessica or Michael....our kids (now adults.) But, I think she was and is one of the best Moms a child could have. To this day, when one of our kids comes home, their later departure is still accompanied by a very prolonged hug and... she cries. She loves our kids (and son-in-law) furiously. And she loves our kid's friends. The walls of our home are covered in photographs, taken over the years that includes pictures of our kid's friends from church, school and college. In Carol's mind she adopted all of them into our family. She has made the houses we've lived in a home...a refuge...a place that smells like a Yankee Candle store, feels as comfortable as your favorite blue jeans, and is as welcoming as you could imagine.

But you see, 30 years ago, I didn't know all these things. What I saw was a hot little brunette that seemed to like me, laughed at my stupid jokes (still does), and was so easy to talk to. Our first phone conversation wherein I asked her out for our first date lasted about 2 hours (not because I was slow to ask..I got the "will you go out with me?" question handled in the first 3 minutes.)

Our 30 year marriage has certainly had its ups and downs. There were some periods where I'm sure she wondered if this marriage would make it...wondered if she could stand to stay married to me. I have not always been the easiest person to be married to. But she has hung in there with me and I still wonder how a guy like me could have ever gotten a gal like her.

Oh...one more thing. I see Jesus in Carol. I am married to a Godly woman...a woman who has a strong faith...a woman who prays...and prays. A woman who spends a lot of time in God's Word. A woman after God's heart. When we spoke our vows in her parent's living room on a Wednesday night in front of her former youth pastor and a handful of family and friends, she made a promise to me. But she also made a promise to God. And she has kept that promise for the last 30 years. I don't expect that to change over the next 30.

Her name is Carol and I fell in love with her 30 plus years ago, love her to this day and will love her as long as I have breath. Happy Anniversary sweetie.