I turn the car radio up. The sun has creeped out and the temperature has passed 50 degrees. Winter will end. Spring will arrive.
And Tom Cochrane’s “Life Is a Highway” is on the radio.
My children are in the backseat of our dinged-up 2005 Honda Accord. As I turn up the song, I call out to them, telling them that they know this song. Thanks to the movie Cars, which I loved by the way, every kid knows the song. I don’t wait for their responses and keep turning the volume higher.
With the car radio cranked up to 20 and me hitting 45 in a 35 mile per hour zone, I’m about as far on the edge as my middle-aged self can go.
But I want to hit the gas. I want to blast the radio higher.
I love that song!! I still I think prefer the original over the remake (maybe because Tom Cochrane is Canadian, I’m a little biased).
It’s a different highway now though, isn’t it? Making supper, packing lunches, bathing kids. I’m getting ready to hit a new highway too. Rian starts Gr. 12 in September. Always moving, always changing.
I knew you would like the Canadian version, and by the way, I knew Cochrane was Canadian. I also like his version better.
Much different highway. Parent of a senior – wow!
Off to read the rest of your post.
Hope it was worth the trip.
Oh, I loved this! You’ve captured these moments perfectly — that feeling at 20 or 22, and a few decades later when you realize certain freedoms are gone and in their place, our little “joyful” constraints…
Thanks for the positive feedback. I like the way you describe this as our “joyful constraints.” You could be a politician.