Break It Down.

We have a tv/vcr for the car and we've heard a lot of comments like, "When we were kids there weren't tv's in cars. We actually talked! And sang Kumbaya! It was good enough for me and it's good enough for my kids!"

The thing is, when I was a child we didn't have a tv in the car either. Instead we had an angry father who threatened to 'Give you kids something to cry about in about 10 seconds!' for most of the drive.

We didn't have tvs in our cars back then, but we also didn't wear seat belts because in the 70's seat belts were something the hippies down the street were forced to wear. And 'God damn it, we're not hippies!'

We didn't have a tv in our car, so my brother and I entertained ourselves by putting my little sister on the arm rest in the middle of the back seat. The 'Hump' seat, which she liked because it made her taller and she could see. The exciting part of my sister sitting on the hump seat was the constant threat of her becoming a high speed projectile should we come to an abrupt stop.

Also, I seem to recall a cooler of adult beverages in the front seat.

So of course we didn't need tvs in our cars back then, but things change.

We wear seat belts and we don't place small children strategically for ejection and we don't drink while we drive. When you add all this up....watching a few movies while driving doesn't seem like such a bad thing anymore does it.

I'll admit it's a little sad how my children become brain dead zombies while we drive. But I finished an entire People magazine AND the Ikea catalog on the way home from Chicago yesterday, so can tv in the car really be that bad?

I have more to tell you about my weekend. Most of it involves a church with a band who, in the middle of a song, called out, 'Now we're gonna break it down!' The black hole in my heart where organized religion might have gone grew five sizes that day. Thankfully, no one noticed.

My vision of God and Jesus really doesn't involve breaking it down. Ever.

Anyway, there's more to tell but you know how it is. Remember how I'm really unstable? And how the doctor said it should take 3 weeks for my medication to work? It's been 10 days, so you can imagine how things are.

Break it down....

Comments

[Heather]

I dunno, Jesus enjoyed life and entertainment. He was, after all, human. His first miricle was more wine at a wedding. *wink*

If I had the $$ we'd have movies in the minivan.

[jilbur]

Somehow, I always felt that if there was one time I didn't mind my child going bug-eyed from staring at a screen, it was when she was strapped immobile in a small boring space. But that's just me.

Go meds. Hang in there and wait for the love to flow. xoxox

[emily]

Those meds keep working and before you know it you'll be singing "kumbaya".It's only a matter of time.
So can I cancel the case of Chocolate I was having sent to you?

[Rubber-Sol]

Movies inside a moving vehicle = good thing.

Band screams, "break it down" = bad thing.

Reading in the car w/ quiet kids = FANTASTIC thing.

Feeling icky = yucky thing.

Hope the meds kick in sooner rather than later!

[Gary M.]

I'm with you on the black hole in my heart thing. And I remember how my first meds made me mad as hell … I think I may have used a few of your fathers choice phrases. Don't be afraid to try something new if you have to. I found what works for me…you will too.

[big brother]

GOD IS GOOD!!!

[Melissa]

"All the mother-fucking time!"

People, this was an odd wedding.

[Jerri ann]

We have a dvd player and that is the ONLY time my child watches tv. Inside the house he is too busy playing to care about it and we like it that way! We love traveling w/o having to pull over 90 times for screaming that we have no clue what has provoked! You go girl!

[Kelly]

I TOTALLY agree with you about the movies in the car. A brain dead zombie child in the back seat makes me feel guilty too but its so much better than the whining and screaming! I sure hope you feel better soon.

[Mir]

Um, yeah. There is NO WAY I'd be able to drive 6-7 hours home for a visit (spouseless, might I add) without the handy dandy travel TV/VCR. A few movies won't kill them. On the other hand, I will, if I have to listen to them whine for 350 miles.

Here's hoping those meds start kicking in very soon. Yummy, soothing meds....

[the sarcastic journalist]

ha, so true. we've had this conversation but it involved "damnit, i was bored in the car growing up and had to resort to reading and getting car sick and so shall the kid."

i have a feeling that will change shortly down the road for me and we will have every gadgit and gizmo to keep the child quiet.

as for the meds, i hope they start working soon. i remember when mine started working i just felt a little more calm, like i didnt want to bring a machine gun into the office and plow down my coworkers every day.

[Lil' Sis]

Are you gonna post about the actual wedding? Because I think i might burst if the world doesn't get to hear about the Don-Johnson drummer with gloves, the cookie for communion and the crazy pink-dressed woman who danced so hard I thought snakes were going to come out. I've been laughing for days about it. I think my boyfriend is writing a song about it on his lute.
They were so right. Every day! God IS good!

miao.

[Texas T-bone]

Most of our friends have DVD surround-sound systems in their cars. Just imagine what your kids will tell their kids during a road trip ...

"Cool it, kids! Back in my day we didn't have laser-light shows, 3-D smell-a-vision movies and microwaves in our cars!"

[Jennifer]

I ran across a picture of my grandmother pregnant with twins ( out to there...) with a cigarette in one hand and a vodka tonic in the other. Things may be different, but it's not always a bad thing.

[Jennifer]

Oh and I recall sitting on the hump in the car alot, it was the prized seat. Better than shotgun.

[cursingmama]

Oh how I long for a tv/vcr/dvd thing in my truck...
Unfortunately we didn't add it to the package when we bought the truck because the middle school son gets car sick, and I've cleaned up enough of that to know him+tv+truck would be a bad thing. But, if there was no puke I'd totally have that baby fired up EVERY SINGLE TIME we got in the truck - of course then they'd just fight about what the frick they were watching and then I'd yell at them to shut-up and then they'd call me on the carpet for using bad words and then I'd use some more...viscious cycle

[Jerri Ann]

hey, I rode in a hatchback once from Birmingham to Atlanta to go to six flags!

[domin8trix]

i miss the hump seat. and riding in the back of the stationwagon on a red plaid nylon sleeping bag that slid all around.
my stepdad got so grumpy on car rides that once he whipped around and snatched my walkman and chucked it out the window. i was blasting the cure a little too loudly for his liking. he couldn't hear his tanya tucker 8-track. fucker. oops. was that out loud?

[chris]

LOL... reading through everyones comments is making laugh.

We are about to begin a 20 odd hour car ride with 6 kids and no tv in the car.

[jenny]

The big no-no for us was sitting on the wheel well in the back of the pickup truck as we whizzed along down the freeway. Much safer to sit on the floor in the back of the truck. Maybe you'll just slam head-long into the metal then to flip right off the side when hitting a bump. :)

[Laurie]

Okay, I have mostly convinced myself that people who make derogatory auto-tv comments are just jealous 'cause ~they really secretly want one~. We have movies in the family Jeepster. After returning from a car trip with my parents (sans in-auto movies), my 6 yo informed me that we "can never ever have a jeep without a tv". (shuddering at the thought) I agree, kiddo.

[Julia]

We avoid all this technology by never taking the child anywhere. It also saves a lot of tedious out-of-the-pajamas/into-the-clothes time.

I must hear more about this wedding. In fact, I may be willing to subscribe to this wedding's newsletter.

I've missed you. Sorry to have been MIA and I hope the meds have you feeling like your groovy self soon.

[Lizbeth]

We just got a new car and my kids were begging for the one with the DVD player. But dammit, we have a portable DVD player that I can hook up (and it only cost me $159 dollars and not $1500) so I told them tough shit and to suck it up.

Oh yeah, a long drive without some kind of DVD/VCR combo is just plain crazy. Zoned out kids certainly is better than everyone screaming at each other for nine hours.

Funny story, I spend like six years taking road trips with my husband (before kids) and he was always eerily quiet throughout the trip -- kind of dull to me. Then I realized that it was a habit. When he was a kid there was absolutely NO TALKING allowed during car trips. In fact, he and his two sisters used to have contests to see who could be completely quiet. I'm not sure what the winner got. But I think the loser was threatened with certain death from their dad.

[Kim]

We live in a world where we overcomplicate & over think everything. I came back from a recent trip to China - and suggested to my husband that we sell all of our "stuff" and reside ourselves to a simple and probably happier life. Okay...we couldn't do it. But in theory it sounds nice. And because of you I'm rethinking the potential of having a DVD in the car - up until now I've been against them. Thanks