laughter

A weekend ride through the country was always an experience for our family. We usually never knew where we were going until we got there. No matter how much we pleaded dad wouldn’t say a word. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized he never said because he didn’t know either.


One trip in particular stands out in my mind because it was the day we went flying. Don’t get me wrong it was still a car trip; it just ended up being a very special car trip. We were headed to the lake, out on route 7, to go swimming. Route 7 was a road made up of dips, hills, twists, and turns; it was like riding a roller coaster without seatbelts. Coming out of a dip and topping a hill while increasing speed at the top would make your stomach feel funny. This was something we liked so dad would do it for us when he knew it was clear ahead. Well on this day he took one of the hills in the road a little too fast; all four tires came off the road and we left our seats hitting our heads on the roof. When we landed the air was pushed out of our lungs and we just stared at each other. It was scary at first then Tommy started laughing and couldn’t stop. Soon we were all laughing, including dad who had to slow the car down to keep it on the road.

Hearing my dad laugh that day was awesome!