02 March 2012

Road trippin'

The Family Truckster - not representative of my OMC
With the new job comes some significant change. As noted previously, we'll be moving.  That will come later, but since I start my new job on Monday, I need to get settled a couple of days in advance to build my commuter 'nest.'  To do so, a road trip was called for and it began today.

With me serving as Clark and the Boy as Rusty, we've covered 650 miles so far which is pretty much more than I've ever driven in one spell.  I'm no fan of long-distance driving but it hasn't been bad.  It's actually been a good time.  It's been fun to have this time with my son.  We crossed a major milestone in our father/son relationship today while on the road. For the first time I let him drive my OMC (Old Man Car).  He did a great job.  It's quite something to see him growing up.  We've talked a bunch today and there's been some revelations. For instance, he told me that he's really glad that we aren't a family that panics. I asked him what he meant by that and he said, "Like when you told us you were losing your job, you and Mom didn't panic.  No one did or has.  We trust each other."  That, my friends, was one of those moments that you wait for as a parent and I uttered a silent prayer of gratitude.

We've also laughed a lot.  Since we've been careening through areas with limited radio service, we've been depending on my iPod.  It's sent me down about twelve lanes of Memory Lane as a result.  It also gave us one of those "What do you mean Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?!" moments.  As we drove, I played this:
That's right..."Bust a Move."  As soon as it came on, the Boy goes, "Oh, that's from 'Max Keeble's Big Move.'"  Of course it was to him.  I had to disabuse him of the notion though.  He was referring to a Disney movie released in 2001 (the Boy was six) that he loved.  Young MC's ridiculously awesome song was featured in the movie.  However, I had to tell the Boy that no, the Disney Killing Machine was not the source  of the song.  It was released twelve years earlier, in 1989.  I'm glad to see it's lost none of its awesomeness.  None.

We've got more road trippin' on tap for tomorrow.  I'm excited to see what it will yield.  But right now, I'm just glad to not be sitting in that car.

2 comments:

tonya said...

Nice post but I need to know--would your wife have enjoyed the trip with the boy as much as you did? Wondering how messed up I am compared to other moms....

Michael said...

Tonya - good question. Some of it, yes, I'm sure, but you get a couple of boys in the car after awhile eating junk and that's the end of fun for the mom...