Jeep

Growing up, one of my dad’s favorite hobbies was bringing home old cars without telling my mom. Naturally, she wasn’t thrilled with his little surprises, but my sister and I were ecstatic. He would bring home anything from convertibles to old mustangs, and even once a Volkswagen Beetle. Then he would fix up the car and sell it for a small profit. My favorite car he took home was a 1998 green Jeep Wrangler.

My dad kept the car in the garage with the top, windows, and doors off, making the Jeep backseat the perfect play area for my sister. He was constantly taking barbies and play dough out from under the seat and did his best to get paint off the steering wheel.

When the car wasn’t parked in the garage, we were off-roading in the fields behind my house. We spent hours in the summer driving through the fields spraying mud all over the car and ourselves. After my dad would wash down the jeep and polish it, before putting it back in the garage.

The same year my dad brought home the jeep, a drive-in movie was renovated and reopened a couple of towns away from us. Saturday nights turned into movie nights in the jeep. The drive-in theater would play old movies and newer kids movies, but we only would go to the old movies to keep the experience genuine. I saw all the classics that summer. The Sandlot and Top Gun were my favorites and Jaws gave me nightmares.

These nights were the only times I was allowed to sit in the front seat next to my dad. We would leave the house with me in the backseat, and when we stopped at the local convince store to get candy for the movie, I would move to the front seat. It was another secret that we kept from my mom.

For years after, my Dad and I Saturday tradition stayed the same. Eventually, I was able to start sitting in the front seat without keeping it from my mom, and soon I was learning how to drive in the jeep. Nothing was more embarrassing than being a newly 16 year old and stalling the jeep because I wasn’t about to drive shift. I got the hang of it by the end of the summer of my junior year.

After I went to college, my dad sold the jeep. I grew up in that jeep and moved from the back seat to the passenger’s seat, to driving the car. The jeep will always be a special place for me and was a place my whole family enjoyed, even my mom.