Rockin' with the Rhythm

Once upon a time, before marriage had softened our bodies, before children had suckled the life out of our breasts, before life had stripped the color from strands of our hair, JoDene and I worked for a local college. Back then, during the summer semester, our office would close at Noon on Fridays.

We would lie about where we were, claiming that we still had to work, and because there were no cell phones (at least not for the paycheck-to-paycheck set), we would head to the beach. We would crank up the Judds greatest hits tape in my hot pink Escort and head on down the highway.

We would blow up our inflatable loungers and drift away until 3 or 4 PM and then head on back to town before anyone was the wiser. Back then (before Florida became a desert began the world's longest drought), it rained consistently between 3:30 and 4 PM, so there was no doubt what time it was when we were racing to beat the rain clouds to our car.

We would stop off at this little dive bar and shoot pool for about an hour before beginning the long drive back to our respective homes.

On Tuesday, had it not been for the constant stream of bitching coming from the backseat, I would have sworn that we had been teleported back in time 15 years. There we were singing the songs from the recently downloaded album on her iPhone, riding in from the coast where she had just bought a boat. We sang to all of the songs of our past and talked about the flood of memories that came pouring back with every mile of road we covered.

The children in the back (both only children) bickered as if they were brother and sister:

"He's touching me."

"She said 'hate' is a bad word."

"He looked at me."

"I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I got to pee NOW."


JoDene bought a boat that day but the only thing anchoring me to reality were the two little voices coming from the backseat.

I miss that time. That time that freedom came so cheaply, that excitement and adventure were so easy to be had. We were stupid and young.

And so very, very free.

But I would never trade yesterday for what I have right now - even those two bickering children.