Hidy ho good neighbor

You know, I think the worst part about being ill this long, aside from the financial implications, is the extreme boredom. I have been off work now for over 6 weeks and I am not set to go back until the beginning of November. While some might see this as a good thing, I am not really all that thrilled with it. I have all this free time when I could be out taking photos, but to be honest, the drive just isn’t there. I make the plans but that is about as far as I can get.

I was out and about the other day driving around, can’t remember why at the moment, but that isn’t the important part of the story. Anyway, I was behind a Camaro, guessing it was a 68 or 69, and the smell of the exhaust actually triggered a memory. I know, that is weird but just hang with me here. It reminded me of my best friends Camaro and we would go out riding around in it aimlessly. The smell in the car was a mix of exhaust gas, yes he had a leak, and whatever the interior was made of. The car was loud and it felt like it was going to vibrate you to death, but we had great fun in that car. Heck, we had fun in about every vehicle he owned. The old pick-up truck, the little car that I think was a Vega, although I am not sure about that. All I remember was it was small and really fun to ride in with the windows down.

I remember we would go on drives out in the coutry looking for places to explore. Old abandoned farms and such. Usually we would freak ourselves out before we got too far into anything though. Billy, my friend, loved to get out on a dark coutry road and while we were driving around he would douse the lights. He knew it scared the crap out of me and oddly, we never had an accident, doing that! We did however have one once when I asked him what happens when you turn off the key while you are going down the road in one of his cars. In retrospect, that wasn’t a very intelligent thing to ask him because the next thing I knew he had turned the ignition off, all the way. So basically he locked the steering column as well as took away the power to the brakes. Oh the next few seconds were ones I will never forget. I think we both nearly crapped ourselves as we drifted off the road and went sideways sliding into a fence.

Pretty much from that point on, whenever I wanted to ask him something I thought it through really well before I asked, Is there the potential for pain if I ask? Could this harm someone else? Yep, those were good times and while I do cherish the memories, I don’t think I would want to relive most of those moments, I just don’t think my poor heart could take them anymore!

On a side note. I am pretty sure I never told my mother about this. But my brother does read here from time to time so I imagine she will know soon. D, let me know what here facial expressions go through when you tell her this!

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7 Responses to Hidy ho good neighbor

  1. One Wink says:

    What a great post! While I feel bad for you being bored away from work, I’m feeling pretty privileged to be treated to this trip down Memory Lane. It sounds amazingly like so many stories PD has told me.
    It’s weird that you would bring up a “scent trigger”… The other morning at work I smelled a smell that took me immediately back to my grandmother’s kitchen. She died when I was little so I was only 3 or 4 when we would have Sunday dinner at her house and the memory was so very vivid. I tired to hold on to it as long as I could. It was actually kind of weird because the scent wasn’t actually there, I just conjured it up in my head. Has anyone else had this experience? I was starting to worry I had a brain tumor or something.
    Isn’t it crazy the things we do when we are young and reckless? I’m with you- it’s fun to think about but to go back and relive those things probly would at least give us panic attacks if not heart attacks.
    Please, more posts like this. It was fun imagining you back then. Not that it’s not fun imagining you now ;-P lol

  2. Joey says:

    Been out of the loop a bit. Sick computer! All better now :) I have had the scent trigger too. It’s so cool when that happens and it’s like you try to explain it to others but they just cannot grasp it totally. It’s something that only you can chersih just for a moment. Hope you get to feeling better!

  3. Jeff A says:

    @Joey:

    Glad your computer is better. I know it drove me nuts whenever mine would go out, that’s why I have a backup now!

  4. Jeff A says:

    @One Wink:

    Thanks, I keep meaning to do more posts like this, but I get distracted way too easily. Heck just the other day I

  5. One Wink says:

    Hee hee. Smarty pants.

  6. M+ says:

    These kinds of posts are always good. I think we all can relate to certain aspects of them. In fact, it reminds me of my one friends who used to do donuts in the church parking lot. Actually, he’d do donuts anywhere he could, but our church parking lot was big enough to accomodate without risking damage to anyone’s vehicle.

  7. lil bro says:

    sorry it took so long to post i have been away from my puter for a min but i did tell ma about this and there was no facial expression except blank but she did say he’s trying to kill me isn’t he…