A Drive To The Coast

A good friend of mine had a wedding party for his daughter and new husband this afternoon at his home down at the coast.  While Margaret took our daughter Molly to a birthday party, Will and I jumped in my restored Jeep CJ7 and headed down to the coast for a party.  Will wasn’t too excited about it as it was an adult party with no kids, but he went along with out complaint.  I told him they would be serving fried grouper and oysters, but that still did not raise any interest.  What is wrong with that boy!!!

As we sped south along Hwy 319 listening to the shuffle of 3500+ songs on my ipod, it occurred to me how good this boy has it.  I said, “Will, when I was your age I would ride with my father in an Oldsmobile or Pontiac and listen to him sing gospel music.  And if he wasn’t singing, we were listening to it.”  There wasn’t a whole lot a variety for me back in those days.  “Here we are, driving with the top off the jeep listening to anything from AC/DC to bluegrass.  How good is this?”, I said.  With a lively giggle and a high five, we carried on down the road.

On our way back, we went down a few one trail roads to some of my “secret” spots on the bay.  It was high tide so the marshes were full and water covered the road in certain places.  This perked him up and he really showed interest when the bait was getting chased almost under our feet.  He said “Dad, when you pick me up from school on Wednesday, can we come down here with our cast nets?”  That warmed my soul.

As we drove back to town, I would look over at him bobbing his head to the music and just enjoying the ride.  Will was content with the world and himself.  Comfortable in his skin and just enjoying being Will while I was just enjoying be Dad.