Thoughts... and then some

Sometimes I get in the mood for the oddest music. My current kick really makes me laugh at myself. I'm currently listening to the oldies station. And by "oldies" I mean way oldies. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, big band stuff. It usually happens when I've been through the rotation a couple of times, country to classic rock to pop to alternative to jazz and everything in between. Then I find myself on 103.3 listening to stuff that no one my age really has any knowledge about.

I think it started with the purchase of my very first car. "Rose". What a beaut. I had graduated from high school and needed wheels. I wasn't in a position to be picky either. I was desperate. So off to Pocatello I went with my parents and there we met Rose. The 1984 4-door rosewood Plymouth Reliant. We test drove, it fit the bill. It wasn't until after the purchase that we found out that the radio was only AM and stuck on 1390 am- Hits from the War Years. I had no idea that there were cars that were purposefully made to only broadcast AM stations. I paid much more attention to those sorts of details on my next car purchase.

But, Rose was mine and she did travel well from point a to point b. It was truly the ultimate in grandma cars. It was just impossible to make it cool and I tried, I swear I tried, it just wouldn't stick. This was never demonstrated so well as it was one day in the K-Mart parking lot. I had gone to the store for some reason, came out with purchase in hand and got in the trusty Reliant. Put the keys in the ignition and turned. Or tried to at least. It wasn't working. I tried again but to no avail. "What's the deal!" I thought. Then I looked around. The color was right, the interior exact, but it was clear by the paraphernalia around me that I may not be in my car. As luck would have it one row behind me there was a little old lady trying to get into my car! If ever there was a doubt that cleared it right up. We shared a laugh, switched cars and went on our merry way. Weird that I was okay with that. I had a good laugh about that for quite awhile.

So, in memory of Rose and hits from the war years, I give you Nat King Cole's "Rambling Rose"