Have a Car with a Sunroof

It would be hard for me to guess how many car rides I took with my seat all the way down, and the sunroof open.

I would make pictures out of clouds and tell elaborate stories.

My Mom and I would turn the music up – really loud – and sing together at the top of our lungs.

It was the reason there was always a push-and-shove fight to see who got the front seat between my brother and I.

I remember the car my parents had for so many years, vividly. A blue stanza with spaghetti sauce stains from my brother and chocolate milk shake stains from me. The seats were worn and faded from years of road trips up the windy roads of Vermont. A layer of dust on the outside from traveling dirt roads to Groton and to our camp.

Our, rather large, collection of tapes strewn throughout the car and re-organized every so often into a tape organizer. The music was variety – from Rod Stewart to the Moody Blues to the Eagles, and all of the Billboard Top Hits.

When I think about summer, I think about traveling in that blue stanza, windows down, sunroof open, hair whipping in the wind, making cloud pictures, singing, laughing, and solving the problems of the world – or at least the problems in our world.

My future child/ren – I wish for you to have memories filled with the pure joy of the open road, and an open sunroof.