I meant to post this story back in May but got sidetracked. I went home a few months ago for my cousin’s funeral. Much to my surprise, my father let me borrow one of his extra vehicles. I get to his house and the extra vehicle is some late ‘80’s Chevy Caprice Classic with something like 10,000 miles on it (they inherited it ).
I grinned ear to ear when he opened the garage and backed the car out. You see, when I turned 16 I drove my Mom’s Blue Caprice Classic for about a month (until I whined enough to get my 1967 mustang but that is a whole other story). I hated that car. I disliked it mainly because it was the BIGGEST boat you have ever seen. But what made me smile when I saw this car at my dad’s was the memories of Julie, Nancy and I driving around in that car. We would all sit in the front seat (heck, if you put anyone in the back seat you had to shout at them) and cruise around town. Nancy would roll the window down and hang out the passenger side like a dog. I would get so embarrassed and try to convince her to come back inside the car because if anyone saw us we would not be cool (like we were cool anyway). Naturally, this only encouraged her to do it more.
Anyway, let me get back to the story at hand. This was a rough time for the family since Bear died so suddenly and everyone was busy trying to finalize funeral plans and arrangements. I decided to pick up all the kids for a “Fun Day with Aunt Jen.” Good news is all the kids fit in the Caprice. So I have this car loaded down with the kids and we are on the freeway (you have to get on the freeway to go anywhere in Houston). You will notice the Caprice comes with a digital speedometer made for a blind person (see picture below).
From the back seat I hear the following conversation (i will use initials to protect the names of the innocent):
B – “52” “54” “56” “59”
T -“I think the speed limit is 55”
L – “Yep, it is”
B – “Ohhh… Now we are going 60..wait, no 61..no 62” (his voice rising with each new number).
T – “Isn’t the speed limit 55?”
L – “Its 55”
B – “61” “63” “60”
T – “Didn’t the sign say 55?”
L – “yes, we just passed a sign, its 55”
I slowed the car down and I hear all of them go, “58..thats okay.”
Observations From The Nation's Capital 
Too Funny…much to my dismay, Kevin has convinced William that as long as we are not the fastest vehicle on the road, we are not really speeding – in Kevin speak “we are flowing with traffic”. I like those kids keeping you in line!
That is funny! My 9 year old is a backseat driver too. When she was 3 I told her that a yellow light meant speed up and of course she had to tell her daddy! 🙂
That made me laugh out loud! Thanks, Jen… I’m sure you now realize that our antics as teenagers were done out of love… you know, we LOVED to embarrass you!
oh heck that is just funny.