Oh Happy Labor day to y’all. Whew what a fast paced, quick, long weekend this was. Filled with ballgames to watch, a family cook out, my little sister’s birthday, a hair appointment, and fall decorating (which is my fave); the minutes just flew by. I haven’t had time to write and I’ve missed it. Yesterday we had my husband’s entire family here for a cookout. We’ve lived in our home for almost 10 years, and we have never done that. It’s just difficult to get them all in one place at one time. His siblings are quickly aging ( he is the baby) and the young family members all have lives of their own and are very busy. Aren’t we all? Yesterday was a great day for my husband and I could just tell how much he enjoyed it. I made sure that all of the food was prepared, and no one had to bring a thing except for what they wanted to drink. My husband’s wish was to have homemade chocolate and butterscotch pies. His dad used to have cookouts when he was alive. He always had those two pies, so it brought back some great memories for my husband. As y’all know, I am a baker so making the pies was just no trouble. I also made an angel food cake.
As everyone was piling in to our big yard yesterday for the festivities, I couldn’t help but notice the differences in everyone’s vehicles. I know, I know I’m super weird. I looked at vehicles. For some reason the conversations yesterday were around the vehicles that they drove lol. One had a hybrid for gas mileage. Two had almost monster trucks that probably took a tank of gas just getting up our hill. A few small sedans and a jeep or two rounded out the bunch. Everyone seemed to just love the vehicle that they were in. You can almost tell a person’s personality by the vehicles that they drive. It’s true. I know that’s silly but you can. My husband drives a Toyota 4Runner. It suits him perfectly. He likes that suv type vehicle. As I’ve told before, he is the drummer in a band and his drum kit fits perfectly in the back of his vehicle. My son drives a 4 door Ford F150 truck. This also fits him perfectly. He is always carrying tools. Hés a machinist so his tools fit very well in the covered bed. As for my I just have a little Hyundia Kona. I love my little car. Is not quiet a sedan and not as large as an SUV. It holds my cakes perfectly.
Growing up I found a love for “antique” cars. Strange that a little girl would love them but, nothing about me was ever “normal”. I was certainly the horse of a different color in our family. My sister and I would often go on trips to car shows with our Aunt and Uncle. He always had some type of hot rod in the works or on the road. The ones where they wipe with a cloth and allow no one to touch. Don’t get me wrong, they were beautiful unique vehicles, but why would you want something that no one could touch and enjoy. We spent many days just walking around looking at all these beautiful old cars and wishing we could sit in them and just drive them around.
My fascination with things old is still with me today. I love anything reto or antique. Especially from certain time periods like the 50s and 60s. My interest took one great focus when it came to vehicles, however. Let me enlighten you lol. My momma had a beauty shop in our home (I’ve told that before) and she “did hair” for so many folks including her family and daddy’s family. Daddy had a cousin that would bring his wife to have her hair fixed once a week. He would pull in the driveway, and I would literally get butterflies over the vehicle that he drove. It was a 1970 something beautiful black El Camino. Yes! My dream car is an El Camino. Daddy’s cousins name was Gene. And the car fit the man. He wore rolled up blue jeans and had wavy hair to his shoulders. His beard was long, and he had a silver chain from his wallet to the pocket watch he carried in his front pocket. I would just sit beside of Gene on the front porch and just stare at him until he got tired of it. He’d finally look at me and say “you can get in it but, don’t touch anything lol. He would allow me to sit in the driver’s seat and pretend I was driving that big hog. The steering wheel felt as big as a hula hoop. I would just imagine driving it down the road. The white and black fuzzy dice hand from the rear-view mirror and I thought it was just the coolest thing ever. He would let me sit in that car every week that he come with his wife while she got her hair fixed.
Jump forward 30 years and I still search for El Caminos at the car shows. There aren’t very many as folks don’t like them the way they do mustangs or corvettes. On occasion I will come across a few and I just fall in love with them even more. The ones at the car shows are all perfect and polished. They don’t usually have all of the original interior or motors. But they have been redone as close as possible. Folks are very proud of their El Caminos, and I feel like they are just as odd as me to have chosen that vehicle to love.
Fast forward about 35 years from my little tale. Gene passed away a few years ago and his wife not long after. I keep up with his granddaughter on Facebook and we’ve talked about Gene’s old car on several occasions. His son owns the car now and is keeping it original a neat just as it was that long ago. I’ll probably never own an old El Camino (unless I win the lottery). But, I can dream. If I had the money, I would sure own one. I would buy Gene’s old car and I would ride that hog all over this town. It would be my daily driver, my grocery gitter. The only change I would make would be the fur dice would surely be teal and I would have a furry teal cover to put around that hula hoop steering wheel. Talk about the car suiting the gal. Oh well, we can all dream can’t we.
If you ever see a hippy retro gal in East Tennessee in a black El Camino with teal fur dice you can just assume that I have hit the lotto numbers. Unti then I will just look and admire online or at the car shows. Does your car suit you? If not will your next one? Would you be brave enough to go against the grain and drive your prefect car? I hope one day we all get to. Have the best Labor Day evening ever. And enjoy the photos of the El Caminos I have included in case you forgot how lovely they are. (the black one isn’t Genes. Wish I had a photo of it.).
Always…….Brooke
Uplifting, Encouraging, and Fun blogging. 