Random Memory 7

This one’s not exactly out of nowhere. We discussed it over Christmas and my mind flashed back to the conversation recently as a string of vehicle recalls hit a certain car manufacturer over the last few weeks.

We rely heavily on our automobiles and expect certain parts of the vehicle to perform simple basic functions. For example, one would assume that a door opens and closes…oh, and that it doesn’t fall off consistently.

I remember the first incident very well, recall discussion of the second and was brought to tears having never heard the third.

One night on the way home from the thriving metropolis of Des Moines we stopped for gas and snacks on the way back to Pella. I remember distinctly that some form of ice cream treat was purchased at the fueling station because I never got to eat mine. Why? Because I was in charge of holding the sliding door of the mini van in place during the hourish journey home after it came tumbling off the hinges. It is after all a little cumbersome to hold a dislodged door with both hands and consume a tasty ice cream treat at the same time. I recall locking my entire body rigidly in place trying desperately not to be swung into the ditch as dad navigated the route home at Mach Three. Yes that final suggestion is only half true and was added to aggrandize the story but I do remember holding on very tightly…and missing out on the ice cream.

Part two of the story, brief but remembered, was that the Young People’s group at church borrowed the van for some form of Wednesday night entertainment and apologized afterward for damaging our door. Mom told them it was not a problem as we knew the door was prone to these fits and they had not been the first to experience it. Sorry folks…we lent you a vehicle with temperamental doors!

Finally the last chapter. It is the one I did not witness so I feel at liberty to add in my own details to make it as humorous as I remember it the day the story brought me to tears. This I know…mom dropped my sister off at high school one morning (I was now in college), the door came off yet again and they simply threw it inside the van and mom took off for home. I believe it was raining. I will also suggest that mom was in her bathrobe with curlers in her hair and little sis was devastated at the horror of this developing scene that was happening in front of the entire school (converging on the scene at that very moment) and ran to hide in the bushes as mom lost a slipper, threw the door inside…the door and laid rubber squealing into the storm.