Mrs. Stone-Voss

When I was a kid....(yes, I really am starting out with that)

.....my parents didn't believe in flying.  We took a vacation, we drove!  We had a van.  A REAL van.  The kind that meddling kids and a dog used when solving mysteries.  We dubbed it the magic bus.  It was a blue Volkswagen and I swear the Louisville Zoo uses our old van as a prop for visiting families to use in pictures.  These vacations were back in the old days when your mom typed out the names of states on an actual TYPEWRITER for you to play license plate bingo.  Did anybody in the mid-west EVER see a car from Alaska?  Hawaii?  Really?  Like that was ever going to happen.  Dinner at Shoney's was a treat ("Mom, can't we PLEASE have a pecan log???")  Cars had to be ordered special if you wanted them to have seat belts, which my dad did. Children read actual books with pages.  And the music.  Ah, the music.  It was Dad's AM bluegrass and news, or David's state of the art 8-Track player. 

Doobie brothers, Three Dog night, Lynard Skynard, and the Soundtrack from the Blues Brothers.  Heere odda hilldidda hildhiruhah Juuuyr adda hilldadida jigguwah.  Bow bow bow.  RUBBER BIIISCUIT!!!!!

Jake and Elwood will always bring to mind that twelve hour drive that ended on a beach in North Carolina.    Family folklore took place on those drives.  Like the event that will always be known as the flying danish incident.  It involved a disliked boyfriend, a gas station, and my poor father trying to make amends.  Or the time Michael threw me down in an ice cold mountain stream because he used me to steady himself on the slick rocks.  No extra clothes.  That meant the car had to be unpacked to find some.  Guess how happy that made my dad?  Who in my family doesn't love to recount the numerous times dad pulled up to the very edge of the overlook in the Smokies saying "Look at that view" as mom, who hates heights, would yell, "Will you PLEASE turn this car around!?!?!" 

Two adults, four kids, no iPads, no cell phones, or DVDs locked in a van for twelve hours.  I'm not sure how any of us survived.  I'm not sure how I survive that same drive with my three kids, a service dog, and all those electronics.  They have no idea what they are missing.  Tonight, I was reminded. 

Max took History of Rock last quarter with Stone-Voss.  I love that he gets to take classes like that.  In class, they learned about the roots of rock 'n' roll  through text, albums, and movies.  It has lead to some really good conversations with him about good classic rock.  He's taught me a lot.  We've also talked about the movies they watched.  One of those movies was The Blues Brothers.  Although I have listened to the soundtrack hundreds, maybe thousands of times, I had never seen the movie.  Max begged me to watch.  I'm so glad I said yes.  I had no idea how amazing the music was in the movie.  New album for the iPod for sure!

Mrs. Stone-Voss, thanks for giving me the opportunity to share some really great music and classic comedy with my son.