Station Wagon Days

When I think of my late father, I think of station wagons.  Dad always drove a station wagon because his work required that he travel with a lot in his car. Those were days long before the mini-van became a phenomenon.  While driving through a residential area in our community recently, I saw a station wagon that was nearly identical to the kind that Dad used to drive.  Parallel parked on the street was a Chrysler Town & Country station wagon in olive green with faux wood paneling on the side.  I can vividly remember our many Dodge station wagons in red, in white, in aqua blue and, my favorite, in olive green with faux wood paneling on the side.  As I recognized the car, my heart skipped a beat and my mind tumbled through memory upon memory of our station wagon days.  My favorite memories were sleeping in the back of the station wagon in our backyard on hot summer nights.  Before air conditioning was commonplace, Mom, Dad and I would squeeze into the back of the car, tailgate down to take in any August night breezes that might be floating around (We later "graduated" to a backyard camping tent and then a screen porch for our summer night slumbers).  I've been thinking about Dad a lot this week, given that he passed away 29 years ago on July 30.  Seeing a car like the one he used to drive served as a reminder to me that although he has been gone for many years, he is still present in my life, even in the sight of an olive green station wagon with faux wood paneling on the side.