Two old guys were talking when one said “Hey, I saw you the other day with a new lady friend who looked much younger than you.” His friend replied, “Yeah you’re right. She is ten years younger than me; but you know what I like best about her? She drives at night!”
I thought of that joke as Pam and I settled into our seats for our flight back to Baltimore from San Diego last week. The flight was an 8 a.m. departure and when I checked to see what time we were supposed to land in Baltimore I saw 4 p.m. My first thought was “Good I won’t have to drive down the road too much at night.”
Well, turns out I was completely wrong on that because for some reason it took us almost an hour to get our checked baggage and then another half hour to get a shuttle to our car that we had left at a nearby hotel we stayed at the night before we left. By the time we began to head south, it was starting to get dark. I consoled myself by thinking “Well, at least it is not raining or snowing.”
However, driving home, I recalled one of my 3 or 4 father-in-laws (I’ve lost track of how many I have had) as always insisting on being home by dark. Any plans made to have dinner or go somewhere with my in-laws involved my then father-in-law not driving at night. I would solve the problem by picking my in-laws up and acting as chauffeur for them. I didn’t mind doing so, but the thought would cross my mind “Geez, hope I never get so lame that I won’t drive at night.”
Well, guess what? Think I am almost there. As witnessed the two hour drive home from BWI, I can and still am capable of driving at night, but I don’t like doing so. Guess I’m in good company however. For a good article on this topic (click here.)
Just the other day I paid Charlie Simms a visit. At 96 years of age, Charlie commented on the fact that he no longer drives and voiced some dissatisfaction about that. As I drove down to Buzzy’s Country Story after our visit, the thought crossed my mind “Guess I got THAT to look forward to also when they take away my drivers license.”
That said, it is worth noting that my current father-in-law Sol just turned 93 and still drives without any problems. Then he again, he too doesn’t drive at night anymore.
Twofer Tuesday and I never knew that this was originally a song written for Roy Orbison. Cyndi had the hit with it in 1989, but Roy first recorded it in 1987 a year before he died. Here are both versions. (That’s Jason Priestly and Jennifer Connelly in Roy’s video.)