Memories

As you know, we're pretty big Alabama fans in our house.

We also like Dominick the Donkey.

While Alabama is, by comparison, relatively new in my life, Dominick the Donkey is a song we grew up with in my house.

So where am I going with these unrelated nuggets of amazing information?

I'm getting there, I'm getting there!

See, this weekend we took a quick overnight trip to NH.  And on the way back after a very full day (which itself was after a very sleepless night), we stopped at a rest stop, and WHM went from being sound asleep to very much awake and very much unhappy.

And I broke out my cell phone and YouTube in much the same way I did two years ago when we drove late Christmas night from my parents' house in NY to my in-laws' in Maine, racing just a few hours ahead of a blizzard that threatened to make our trip North impossible.  That is to say, I took out my phone, clicked on the YouTube app, and found a Dominick the Donkey video that soothed my two amazing children.

And I did it again this weekend -- only this time, we'd just heard Kid Rock's song that samples Sweet Home Alabama, and so we watched the Million Dollar Band, and the various football team intros to Bryant Denny.  We watched the Crimsonettes, the Roll Tide ESPN commerical, and a "Mexican" version of Yea Alabama, and we listened to about 99,999 versions of Yea Alabama and Rammer Jammer -- and of course, we listened to Coach Bryant.

And it was nothing short of awesome.  And I was amazed not just at how much fun it was (or how it soothed two grumpy and exhausted children, but also how it made Mick and me just smile the whole drive home), but also that -- hey -- we were even doing it.  That we were in the middle of rural Maine, with a device only slightly bigger than a deck of cards (and a whole lot thinner) watching videos in better picture quality than our living room tv had, essentially on a lark.  We thought of it and within seconds, we were watching it.  That such a scenario was even possible just really gave me pause.

Anyway.  Fast forward to tonight, we we went to dinner and to run some errands in Portland, a solid 30-40 minutes south of us.  And on the drive home, we watched Dominick the Donkey and I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (CAM's new favorite song!) and we were all laughing and singing and it occurred to me that THIS -- THIS is what life is about.  We've had a rocky year and for a few months it's seemed like we couldn't do anything without something coming up to take the wind out of our sails. And then tonight, by the grace of some satellites and a slick little phone, we had a family drive that was right out Leave it to Beaver.

And it was awesome.

I still remember vividly the Christmas Eve when I was probably six and we drove home from my Aunt Patty's house and listened to the Santa radar on the radio.  For a moment, I sat there tonight hoping my kids remember this night forever in just that same way -- full of magic, not a care in the world.  Mommy singing, Daddy dancing as he drove, and all of us laughing in the middle of Nowhere, Maine. 

Life is good.

--Jen

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