Backseat Dreamer

I was sitting at a redlight last night in one of my reveries when I noticed Max and Ruby were on the screen in the SUV in front of me. It made me think of how different things really are now. It makes me wonder what other changes we'll see in the next fifty years or so. There were no TV shows playing in the old Ford Grenada when I was a wee small child. All I had to work with then was my imagination and the scenery. And I think I would prefer the same for my own children.

Some of my fondest memories are of rides in the car with my parents. They'd be sitting up there in the front seat discussing all that grownup stuff I cared nothing about and I would just lie in the backseat and dream away. It was before the days of seat belt laws and it was an exciting place for me to be. I'd imagine that I was in a space ship or a covered wagon. I'd try to figure out where we were based on the turns my dad was making and then pop up to check landmarks to see if I was right. I'd look at the reflections of the dashboard instruments in the back window and when we got the car with the sunroof, the moon and stars and tree tops took my imaginings to a whole new level.

I guess if we had many children and took many road trips, watching movies in the van might work for us. Fortunately, we won't have to worry about denying any "watch and ride" privileges. Santa didn't bring a DVD player for the van this year either. He's intuitive like that.