Car Tunes or Fast Cars and Freedom.......okay, okay Moderately Fast Cars and Momentary Freedom

There is nothing like getting behind the wheel of a car with no real place to go.  I remember the summer after I got my driver's licence, driving down Idylwood Road in my parent's Mazda 626.  Windows down, Bob Marley singing "Three Little Birds", cigarette in hand (don't judge this was a short lived thankfully non-addictive bad habit) Nothing to do but drive.   That was Freedom.  Driving past friends houses, enjoying the blue skies, wasting gas. (those were the good ole days of $1 gas and I was young, not thinking about the earth I would be living for my grandchildren so suck it fossil fuel haters)  Take Marley out of the tape deck put in The Best of Hall and Oates. Hall and Oates, still today a guilty pleasure.  I stole the cassette from my boyfriend.  He never missed it and he even got it back after marriage.  Although I pretty sure he still doesn't miss it.  When ever I hear the line about a the tooth brush in the stand it is 1991 and I am on Barbour Road full of Blue Eyed Soul and wind in my hair. 


Vivid memory driving around in boyfriend's Plymouth Horizon driving down Georgetown Pike with my bare feet up on the dash.  "Going Mobile" by The Who


During my Senior year of High School my boyfriend lived several towns away.  Almost every Saturday night I would drive out Rt. 66 to go see him when he got off from work. This time I had a destination but the feeling was the same - Freedom.  Nothing to do but be young and in love.  My only responsibility was was to make it home by 1am. Albums on constant rotation that year - Peter Gabriel "Us", U2 "Achtung Baby" and Tori Amos"Little Earthquakes"


Fast forward a couple of years - I got my first car.  It was a little sporty Nissan with T tops.  The whole reason I liked that car was the T-tops. Now I had a job, rent and reposonbilities but driving away from my office blasting Ani Difranco- bliss!  Free for another day. 


I always wanted to drive.  As a toddler I had a steering wheel toy that I called my drivers licence.  When I played  M.A.S.H. as a tween my car choices were always sporty, sleek and fast. The first time I got behind the wheel at age 11 (a story for another time) Magical!


Interestingly ,since I have a November Birthday I was one of the last of my friends to get a licence.  And when I finally did I had to drive the family car.  When I moved away from home I didn't own a car.  I rode the bus to work, walked places and relied on friends.  So maybe that is why driving has always been a thrill for me. 


Also, I love a road trip.  Classic Road trip albums include - "Hello Nasty" by the Beastie Boys, "Midnight Vultures" by Beck and Brad Paisley's "5th Gear" (I may have forced that on the Husband) As more and more of my music becomes downloadable songs take the place of albums.  And as children have entered the picture their musical tastes have made appearances on our trips.  Thankfully we have trained them well and for the most part they do not enjoy crap. 


As a Stay at Home Mommy I get the same sense of freedom just driving to the grocery store, by myself on a Tuesday night.  I am the crazy lady at the stop light car dancing to Kelly Clarkson.  


While I write this, the thing that keeps coming to me about cars and driving is the freedom.  When I was in the depths of depression sometimes I would think to myself, just get in the car and go.  Just drive away. But like Janis and Kris said " Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose"  And now days I have so much to lose by running away.  Why not let the wind whip around on five heads instead of one.  Besides I would miss all the family road trips to come. 


Car Trip Sound Track -