The Family Car

At the beginning of Vacation (classic movie of the 80's), the Griswalds get a brand new station wagon for their big summer family vacation trip. Along the way they have many adventures, mishaps, fights, and laughs in the car and with the car. If you ask anyone that has seen that movie they can probably recall the car. So today's post is all about the American Family Car.

When I think back to my childhood, I think about the Kogut family vacations and our great big blue Chevrolet station wagon. That Chevrolet was built like a tank. It had a one row front seat (I don't even think they make cars like that anymore) and it had a special seat, where you could sit facing backwards. I think back to the countless trips that we loaded up the family Chevy and hit the open road. Most of the time the open road took us to Pennsylvania to visit our grandparents. My dad's parents lived in Johnstown (a three and half hour trip) and my mom's parents lived in Warren, PA (a six hour trip). There was also the trip to Disney World, where we actually loaded the Chevy on the Amtrak Auto Train down to Florida and drove it back. And since it wasn't excruciating long the first time, we decided to do it again the following year (and drive both ways). With three girls there were bound to be fights, arguments over space, and lots of "are we there yet?" questions. The pleather (it was plastic leather) stuck to your skin when it got hot. There was never enough space to sprawl out and the car trips were always too long.

Despite all the many miserable experiences (and trust me there were some), I think back to how much I valued those moments with my family. The times that I laid on the door to sleep, Heather laid on me, and Julie laid on her. I remember listening to the Fisher Price tape about Hans Christian Anderson and the Silver Skates and how even though I heard it 20 times before I was in awe that he was able to win each time. I remember driving into Johnstown and the first person who saw the clock "won." I remember playing the letter game (choosing a letter and coming up with as many words with that letter), the license plate game, and car bingo. I remember how my dad would sing "Southern Cross" by Crosby Stills and Nash and then rewind it, to sing it again. I remember feeling cozy and warm in the car while we drove through the darkness. I remember looking out the window on country roads as we drove past homes and wondered who lived there and what their families were like. I remember wondering what it would be like to live in a different city and how my life would be different with different friends, school, and activities. I remember singing songs from the tape We Silly Sings Song at the top of my lungs. I remember how my mom would be working on her latest cross stitch project in the front seat.

I can't believe that all these memories and so many more were formed in one relatively small place. I am sure that my parents and sisters have their own memories about what that Chevy held and how my dad probably wished for a DVD player and my mom probably wished for a Suburban and my sisters probably wished my parents had one less kid so they could have more space.

The Cummings are hoping to create memories of our own. We got ourselves our first family car this weekend. It is a lovely brand spanking new 2010 Toyota Highlander in silver. I can only hope that Mae has as many memories (wonderful and miserable) about the times she is going to spend in that car with us. And maybe one day, she will be singing silly songs, "do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro..,." to her child because she recalls them from all the time she spent in our family car.