These Eyes

I am no younger than 5 or 6. I am in a car with my dad and am in the front seat even though that was a very rare occurrence with 5 siblings in the house. He is driving a car with a greyish green metal dashboard. The radio is one that most of us of a certain age would recognize immediately. Music is playing. It is the Guess Who and, for whatever reason, my dad didn’t want to listen to it.  His big fingers reach up to push a yellowish button that I could tell was white before years of sun and dirty hands changed it to its now dingy color. I don’t remember what song or news came up after that. In fact, that is the extent of my memory, brought up just from hearing the song, but sweet just the same. I have precious few early memories of dad and the ones I can bring up easily are mostly scary. I'll keep this one tucked in my heart.







Comments

  1. Debra She Who SeeksJanuary 22, 2021 at 8:40 AM

    Yes, music can be so evocative of memories, can't it? The Guess Who evokes a lot of good memories for me too -- they were the biggest band to ever come out of Manitoba where I grew up. Before they became an international success, they were often featured on a half-hour music "sock hop" kind of show broadcast locally out of Winnipeg. My Mom, kid sister and I would dance around in the living room to their music. Good times!

    ReplyDelete
  2. anne marie in phillyJanuary 22, 2021 at 8:43 AM

    oh gawd, that radio! my grandpop's car had one and I was allowed to play any station I wanted when I was in that car.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BillJanuary 22, 2021 at 11:55 AM

    One of my favorite songs way back then.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Margaret (Peggy or Peg too)January 22, 2021 at 1:06 PM

    Oh I love me some Burton Cummings and The Guess Who. I had a serious crush on this voice! Went to Toronto to see them many many times! My father would never have let me change the car channel. Once he got in my car when I was all of 19 and tried to change my radio station and I did to him what he did to me, slap his hand and say, "when you're in my car it's my radio" and I have never ever seen my father laugh so hard in his life. He had to listen to my music for a change. thanks for that memory flashback.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Marie SmithJanuary 23, 2021 at 5:44 AM

    I only had one brother, and then, only one child myself so often I had alone time with my parents and later, with my daughter. However, now I have three grandchildren and I understand how precious that alone time is with each of them. Hold on to those rare good memories of your dad. He’s smiling from beyond!

    ReplyDelete
  6. JeanieJanuary 23, 2021 at 6:35 AM

    I love it when memories pop in like that! Like a little gift.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

What do you have to say about that?

Popular posts from this blog

Private Eye

Image
We pass by the house frequently since it sits on a busy thoroughfare. We know to look every time we pass and guess what will we see. Will it be the two Dalmatians, sitting on the couch that backs up to the giant panel window, waiting for their human to come home? Or will it be their human, sitting slightly to the right of middle (allowing for a better view of the giant mounted tv across the room) of the said couch. They are never there at the same time. It’s one or the other. One sleepless night, when my body was willing but my brain was not, I did a little sleuthing. It’s amazing what you can find out about a complete stranger.   His name is Gary and, from what I can tell, he’s never been married. He has worked his way up in a air duct company. He’s now the senior VP but it’s a small company and he still goes out on jobs, judging from  the reviews on Yelp. I know he has two siblings and that their father passed away in 2018. His memorial was held in a Buddhist temple and Gary sr. soun
Read more

Let's Be Perfectly Clear

I would like your input on this letter I am considering sending out. Darryl, I once considered you, if not a friend, a very friendly acquaintance. Our daughters are the same age. I am sure that your daughter is as special to you as mine is to me. McKenna is 21 years old and starting out her life with some tough situations. SHE IS NOT AN OBJECT. She is a person who has her ups and downs, her struggles and triumphs. She has, in the past year, completely alone, had to make scary medical decisions for her mentally ill, addicted father. She has had to watch as the man who was an amazing father slowly turn into a shell of a man who has little to give and much to take. Whether purposefully or accidentally, you have added to her already difficult year. I wonder…would you appreciate my ex-husband leering and making inappropriate comments to your daughter over the course of a long evening? Think about that for a moment!  What were you hoping to achieve with your behavior? Whether
Read more

Go!

Image
 Vai. E, se der medo, vai con medo mesmo. When one is raised in an angry family, it’s not enough to say I don’t want to be angry. You must learn how to do it differently. That’s no easy task. If judgment and self hatred became a way of life, a new way to live has to be taught. There are many ways to do it. Reading, writing, sharing, practicing all help the change. Counseling, psychoanalysis, religion, meditation, gratitude, have the ability to transform but I needed to see it in action, it needed to be more tangible, visual, accessible. I needed to understand the possibilities. There is a YouTube channel that I watch over and over again in order to absorb how to live more fully, more open and from the heart. One of the first episodes that I stumbled on is this…. The channel is Reflections of Life and through it we get to meet people who are doing life a little differently, often more soul based. People who are living life, healing wounds and finding what is truly important.  It can be
Read more