Common Roads

I sometimes view the relationship I have with my father and brother as that of a tight pack of outwardly-facing honor-seeking gunslingers defending the town square in some old movie. Shoulder to shoulder, with their three sturdy backs forming a solid equilateral triangle, each mysterious loner squints at his own private horizon caring not whether he should hope or dread…

wait, that’s not quite right.

Though we have all certainly developed our own tastes and interests, the trio-of-renegades image is largely wishful-type thinking I sometimes indulge in. Instead of the battle-worn and hard-hearted hero of the road, I have often been the little brother hollering for everybody wait up.

I spent my early years watching the highway wind of an open Chevy window tousle the ends of my dad’s hair as he scanned his unique skyline out beyond the roar of his 350. By the time I was tall enough to see the roads outside, my brother was already a couple years in, and he was closely studying what he saw and heard. Wheels, rubber, chrome, paint, glass, blacktop. Icons of modern living.

Lately, when I think of these days of yore, I can find reminders of my childhood family dynamic in scenes from my current life. My wife and I recently acquired a puppy to be a companion to the adult dog we already have. The puppy barely leaves the big dog a single moment with which to even remember what loneliness ever was. Just like the younger brother on the seat of that C10, the young animal constantly studies and mimics the behavior of the older.

Dad is interested in cars, big brother is interested in cars, so guess who’s interested in cars? Put us together and wait for the conversation to swerve in that direction.

You can live pretty close to someone for decades and still find that you are, on certain levels, somewhat of a mystery to one another. But all the guys in my immediate family are comfortable talking, looking at, riding in, driving, cars. (Some of us are better at working on them than others, but let’s not get off the subject…) Perhaps it’s natural to eventually begin mapping off shared spaces of the mind and heart. Places to be ourselves together.

So I love looking at cars. I took these at a local cruise-in a week or so back..