Happy Memory

I was driving towards downtown in The Bus and I pulled up behind a little 2-seater convertible. Well, actually it was a tiny 2-seater and not just tiny because I was in the bus. It wasn't much bigger than the Smart Car (more on that later). As I looked at the tiny car a childhood memory came flooding back to the days when Daddy had a white 1980 MG.

That was his baby. Before we got an automatic garage door opener (thank you thief who broke the manual one but curse you for stealing the tools), he would pull up in the driveway and honk for me or my sisters to open it. This mostly happened when it was raining. We hated rainy days. Especially the ones that started out sunny but then became rainy later which meant Daddy left the top down. He'd put on a rain slicker and drive home (I don't know why, I learned not to question him). When he got home, we'd have to wipe the inside of the car down. Yay! Oh, wait, this was supposed to be a happy childhood memory.

Mom had a Toyota station wagon. It was brown. I guess if you had to have a station wagon, you may as well make if even uglier by making it brown. This was the car we all fit in and took whenever the family went out. However, Mom decided to go back to school and get her Master's Degree in Education leaving Daddy with 3 girls and a tiny car.

Sometimes while Mom was at school we'd want to go somewhere. So, we'd load up into the MG. This was before seat belt laws. My 2 sisters would sit in the passenger seat and I (being the youngest) would squish my butt in-between the two seats into this little hole thing under where the top was stored. I don't think it was supposed to be like this, but if I looked down I could see the ground under my feet. I know, not the safest way to travel but we got out of the house and had a blast driving with the top down.

I loved the MG days. They just seemed so carefree. Running errands, laughing, getting bugs in our teeth (not really but it would have been funny). We all loved that car. I was supposed to get it when I turned 16 but Daddy figured I'd be happier in a car with 4 doors. He bought me a Hyundai Excel...............are you finished laughing yet? I still miss the MG. But, even though we no longer have it, we still have the memories!