There's nothing more aggravating than trying to drive no more than four miles from your house for fast food, to save time, and having "dinner" take longer than if you just made it in the first place. Gotta love overpopulation and poor city planning that places traffic lights at 100 yard intervals. Stops that can take up to five minutes if you're right at the light and twice as long if you're not. And then there are the lines once you finally get to the Greaseland of your choice. Which is worse the drive thru or the cluster fuck inside? It's enough to make me long to live in Amish country,(wherever it may be, USA.) Sure Jedidiah might object and the nearest junk food oasis may be twenty miles out by horse and buggy, but at least there are no crowds and they seldom mess up your order there.
Yet this trek was more bearable thanks to a spectacular rainbow that spanned an entire block in the sky and a classic rock station on the radio that never fails to deliver a peace loving hippie song just when I need it. It was as if the gray clouds parted, the sun beamed down, and the surrounding world transcended into a simpler, happier time. In fact, I bet if looked closely enough, I could see Care Bears sliding down the technicolor arch. I was drifting into the mellow vibe of Seals and Crofts "Summer Breeze" and thinking back to my childhood. Inside a scene where I could remember the sweet scent of lilacs, being carried by the wind, pass through the screen door at bedtime and up to the top of the stairs where I stood calling for my parents to come tuck me in. I was safe and secure with my teddy bear in tow while the air cooled the heat on my face from another day spent playing in the sun. Now that comforting feeling would surface, when I was drained or down at the end of a day, but could count on loved ones at home to light up as soon as I walked through the door. Those instances induced a natural high yet I suspect that Seals or Crofts relied on flower power to reach that state. My emotions were so stirred as to move me begin to sing along when my older son, Tim, with a sly grin, and in his best tone def voice, chimed in with this lyric:
Summer breeze makes my pits feel fine,
Blowing through the smelly sweat under my arrrrmmmmmmssss...
NO, not again! Another favorite song marred. Can I not sing in the car when he's riding? But it's not really ruined. I know when we're older and hear it again, we'll both think back to this time and smile.
