Good Morning

I dropped my daughter off at the high school this morning and after cautiously navigating the parking lot crowded with our newest fleet of drivers, I headed for the main highway. It is interesting to watch a crowd of sixteen year olds park every morning, and to say that I am extra careful is an understatement. I shudder to think that in little more than a year my daughter will be one of them, but what do you do? I will add that after leaving the high school I have to merge with the college drivers leaving the student housing, so there are a few minutes of breath holding before I reach the main road.

This morning was typical; I left the parking lot and just before I reached the highway a car from the student housing jumped out in front of me. There was no mistaking that this was a student. His car was basically a collegiate uniform item; A Subaru with a ski rack on top and bumper stickers and decals literally blacking out the back glass. He supported peace of all types and was in love with several bands with names so random and irrelevant I had to move my lips to read them. I thought for a second I was in Athens, but when I noticed the lack of dents in the car, I knew I was not. Still I kept my distance.

As we approached the red light I decided to move a little closer so I could read some of the smaller decals. While I’ve never been the type to apply bumper stickers to my own vehicle, I do love to read them on other cars. Maybe I’ve never loved anything quite that much, but I always worried that I would end up with something like “I’d rather be collecting stamps” or “Hello, my probation officer’s name is…” Something stupid and dated. But as I got closer I noticed a decal that took my breath. It was one that my little brother and I used to tag things (Ok, now the call it graffiti) with thirty years ago! We invented it I’m sure, and the fact that it made absolutely no sense made it even better! Stop, thief!

Well I got over that emotion pretty quickly and just headed home. I’d love to think that someone saw this “ornamentation” a few years back and thought it was as cool as we did. Maybe they’ve had it in their head after a trip to Jacksonville Beach more than a few years back, or maybe they just thought of it themselves…who knows. Hell, we may have stolen it ourselves! Either way, I like to think that my brother just told me good morning! Good morning to you too.