Recently it has been brought to my attention that I’ve become rather forgetful. And yes, in my defense, as I turn forty-ish today, I’m pretty sure such a state comes with the territory.
That said, it does pain me a bit that a few of these forgotten moments were supposedly quite happy and meaningful times during my childhood. And the fact that they are remembered so vividly by others (you know who you are), I thought it would be appropriate to share at least one of those happy and memorable times that I do indeed remember!
So for those of you who just can’t understand how I don’t remember absolutely everything from back when I was a kid, here is one of my favorites…
I’m riding in a car, my dad is driving. It feels like I’m sitting on the passenger side, front seat…yeah, I know, I was a child of the 70’s. Seatbelts were there but seemed more optional than the default habit they are today. Funny, now that I’m thinking about this, I seem to recall one of my friend’s parents having a car back then where they actually cut out the seatbelts because they were annoying. Yikes.
Back to the memory. I think we are out running some errands, maybe picking up dinner, too. Sunny day, maybe early fall because I think we have the windows down, it’s cool but not cold and the colors seem orange and brown and red…good fall leaf colors back in Ohio where I grew up.
My dad turns to me and says, “You know, we’re picking up burgers for dinner tonight so mom doesn’t have to cook.” Back then, McDonald’s and Burger King were kind of a special treat and…in my mind at least…good eating, so I was excited. We get the burgers and are heading home. I’m holding the bag and picking a few fries out of it, without permission if I remember correctly. As I’m rooting around in the bag, enjoying the fry aroma, I discover what seems to be an “extra” cheeseburger. I count again, and sure enough, there’s only four people in our family, but five burgers in the bag!
I’m sure I wasn’t astute enough back then to hypothesize that the McDonald’s worker in charge of quality control accidentally gave us an extra burger. But I was pretty good at math (not so much anymore, but that’s a different story).
I turned to my dad with what surely was a puzzled expression. Before I could ask the obvious question, I see the corner of his mouth start to turn up into a mischievous smile. “That’s for us,” he said. I think he winked at me, but it really wasn’t THAT vivid of a memory, so maybe I just imagined that part…or added it later. By the way, the exact words used here are probably way off, too, but hell, I was just a kid and not really capable of direct quoting, so I think if you get the spirit of what I’m saying, we’re good.
My dad glances over at me and apparently I still looked puzzled, although I’m sure his meaning was starting to form in my brain. “Well you know, Chad, we’ve got to have one for the road, right?” Now I start to smile, because I was quite certain that neither of us was supposed to have “dinner before dinner”. Don’t get me wrong, my mom was pretty cool on most things, but this “One for the Road” concept immediately struck me as some sort of misdemeanor violation of family policy.
I remember doing my best to rip the burger in half, struggling a bit with the pickles…luckily there were two which made it easier (score one for McDonald’s quality)…and handed one half to my dad. We enjoyed our “one for the road” burgers, basking in the taste, but also in the somewhat artificial notion that we were getting away with something we shouldn’t be getting away with.
As a bonus memory, my dad had the radio on and “For the Longest Time” by Billy Joel was playing. My dad started singing along with the song. I remember him singing in our church choir, but not that much out and about. I liked the tune, too, and started to try to sing along. The song ends and we are both smiling.
You ever hear a song that immediately triggers a distant memory? That song does it for me, every time. It occasionally comes up on my Spotify playlists and I remember that car ride, quite vividly as you can see. My dad probably remembers it very differently…perhaps not at all. I’ll have to ask him.
Over the years, we’ve applied the “One for the Road” concept to many situations. And of course I had to share with my own kids, who are now quite familiar with the notion. Although in their case, I apparently didn’t explain it very well the first few times, since they immediately blabbed to their mom as soon as we got home. Either I failed or somehow they ended up a bit too honest.
Speaking of honesty, I always thought that my dad and I kept that little secret from my mom…but thinking back now, when we got home, I’m pretty sure she must have smelled the cheeseburger on our breath.