Good Ol' Days

Sometimes I wonder if those days still exist. Remember? Those days when you didn't care about the future and didn't have time for the past. You just live for the here and now. Your little group of friends and hangin' out take top priority.

Today, as I drove home from my downtown job, windows down, radio up, I was reminded that yes, those days are still alive and well.

At an intersection I gazed over to the car next to me. There it sat, a Chevy Nova. Rust around the edges, running loud and puffing exhaust as three teenaged kids sat in the front seat.

"Wonder why they're all in the front seat?" I thought.

I stretched up further to take a look. Ah, there, the end of a guitar case sticking up from one side. And I recognized an amp next to it. On the other side, more big cases. "Drums. Definitely drums," I thought.

That was all it took. Memories came flooding back without any effort of my own. The music, the cars, the football games, the parties we weren't supposed to have. Oh, and of course, the guitar player. Yup, I was in love and I'd gladly squeeze into the front seat of a car to be near it- whatever it was.

The car, the kids, the memories, all wrapped up in that one little glance at a guitar case. Most people would have missed that image. They wouldn't have cared who those kids were or where they were going. But not me, I was reminded. Reminded that yes, those good ol' days do exist. I felt reassured.

And maybe, just maybe, somewhere back in time, there would always be room for just one more in that front seat.