My Crazy Mom and Aunt

They say that every now and then it is a good thing to deviate from your normal topics. My mom reads this blog all the time, so today, I'd like to tell you a little story about my mom and my aunt.

Some of my favorite childhood memories come from the crazy ways my mom handled stressful situations. This particular day started out with my mom, my aunt, one of my sisters and my aunt's kids getting into a little  Corvair to make a 4 hour trip from the St. Louis area to our home. On the trip home, the transmission went out. We were quite away from my aunt's place, so Mom and Aunt Nan made decided to forge ahead and drive as far as she could, in second gear.

For most people, the challenge of driving 100 or so miles at 20 miles per hour on a hot summer day with 3 kids in an un-airconditioned car would automatically push the panic button followed by a day of growling, arguing, screaming and crying, but not these two!

To entertain us, they encouraged us to sing songs and play all the typical "I Spy" type car games.

Then they noticed that as we were driving by the farm houses, we could look into the windows and see what was on TV. Way back then, most rural areas only had access to one or two channels, so we were able to pretty much watch the same programs for the entire trip. We laughed and tried to imagine the story line of the soap operas as we drove along.

And whenever we came to a hill, My mother would encourage all of us to stick our arms out the windows and "help" the car by rowing our way up the hill while singing "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" by Three Dog Night at the top of our lungs.



We had such fun watching people's faces as they encountered a little car with 6 swinging arms crawling up the hills that we could never get through the entire song! It would disintegrate into hysterical laughter every time.

That little white Corvair made it 8 hours before it finally gave up. My dad traveled about an hour to pick us up and tow the car home. I'm sure my parents would have preferred not to go through the expense of a bad transmission, but I would have missed one of the best days of my life :) It was worth every penny!

So the next time things don't go your way, ask God how to make it a Jeremiah situation!