Driving Around

This past weekend, in a very real sense, I had the opportunity to take a little drive down memory lane. There was a season thirty-five years ago when we sometimes had trouble getting our recently born son, Christopher, to fall asleep. As parents, you have to use all of the tools available and we realized pretty quickly that Chris was an outstanding car sleeper. So a few times a week we’d end up buckling his car seat into our 1984 Nissan Stanza and going for a drive around bedtime. For some reason, it became our custom to listen to George Winston’s December album while we drove … on a cassette tape, of course. And we even fell into a routine route that ended up at a park with a view of the lights on the bay. In time that sleep-stage passed, but we often think fondly of that season and the peace those quiet drives brought to our burgeoning family. And certainly George Winston music bring back memories as well.

Fast forward three and a half decades, and we had a dear friend and her baby staying with us this weekend. Her baby, Olivia Grace (same name as our granddaughter), was fighting sleep and when she dozed off in the car we decided to ride that wave and let sleeping babies lie, so to speak. I dropped Nancie off at the house and went for a drive. Feeling nostalgic, I put played some George Winston music to complete the experience. Of course, now it was a Pandora station instead of a cassette tape, but the effect was the same. So I took a few loops around the Back Bay Road and otherwise wandered aimlessly for a while. And I couldn’t help musing that it was now thirty-five years down the road, both literally and figuratively. And that thought made me happy.

Life has a way of circling around on us, and there is a certain comfort in embracing those cherished moments that you get to revisit. I was also reminded of the old fashioned joy of just going for a drive. Whether you have a baby in the back seat, or a loved one by your side, or just feel like spending some time alone, there’s nothing quite like taking a little drive to enjoy the scenery, and maybe some favorite some music as well. And if it helps the baby to sleep … all the better.

Take a drive. And here's a link to our official baby driving album:

George Winston - December