Watching a suburban mom load her kids into the SUV

I was sitting in a Sheetz parking space eating half of a sub next to an SUV. A mother of two little kids came out, opened the side door next to me and installed tow little kids in the new and improved car seats for kids. The process for the pair of them probably took about five full minutes.

My window was open and the woman saw I had been watching her process a number of somewhat complex straps, snaps and buckles of various sorts. I thought to myself that it's easier to strap a fighter pilot into his cockpit.

She spoke to me and commented that it was time consuming but at least the kids were safe.

I looked at her and said, "When I was their age dad would throw the three of us into the bed of the pickup and take us from the farm and into town every Saturday."

I kind of expected she'd be horrified but she was only mildly surprised. "My father said kids rode in cars without seat belts and sometimes rode in truck beds." Then she said, "You probably didn't go all that far, though."

"He took us from our farm in Ohio to San Diego to pick up his brother when he got out of the Navy," I answered. That raised eyebrows. "It was actually a pretty nice trip and we got to enjoy all the sights and smells of America. The Interstate system was still in its infancy. We took a lot of US Highways."

"You went all the way to San Diego in the bed of a pickup truck?!"

"Yeah. We made it work and stuck together like a family. My mother talked about that trip the rest of her life." 

"We spent a few weeks in California and the weather turned. Mom took my brother and sister and took a bus home and Dad, my Uncle Bill, and I drove home together. Bill stayed with us a while until he got back on is feet after he got his Filipina wife into the States."

"Didn't the police stop you?" she asked.

"Nope. They probably figured we were hillbillies and did that kind of thing all the time. It was a different America back then. We valued liberty more than safety and family most of all," I replied.

She told me it was the most interesting story she had ever heard.

Fact is the story isn't mine. It's similar to any number of stories I have heard during my career at sea. It's interesting to note that an inordinate number of older seamen come from small towns and rural areas and have told me similar stories.

What IS fact is that I got caught driving a fire truck with about a dozen special needs kids from a summer camp into town and instead of getting into trouble we became little heroes. 

I posted that story years ago. 

What's also fact is that it was a very different country back when I grew up.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY