Some men are Baptists, others Catholics; my father was an Oldsmobile man

It was September 1, 1985 before I ever wore a seatbelt, because I was of age, and the law required it in Texas. As a kid, when I would ask my mom what they were for, she told me we didn’t need to wear seatbelts because she was a safe driver and it would be an insult to her. And besides that, she was sure she could keep us off the hard metal dash with her free right arm. She always said seatbelts (she called them safety belts) and crash helmets were for sissies and careless people. My sister and I were trained to poke the seatbelts down between the crack in the back seat to get them out of our way. She probably was also concerned with us using them unfairly while we fought back there. She was real big on fighting fair; no eye gouging, biting, hair pulling, or hitting below the belt. Other than that, no holds barred.

Yesterday, G-man interviewed my dad for a health class he's taking this summer. One of the questions involved a funny story. My dad told him a story from when I was around 10. He and I had gone up to the grocery store for mom in our brand new 1975 Pontiac Bonneville, 2-door coupe. I was riding shotgun, because in those days kids rode in the front seat unless the dog was with you. He swung into the Brookshire's parking lot and pulled into a parking place pretty far from the front door. I unlatched the door right when he eyed a closer spot. My 80 pound self tried to hold the 6 foot long, 300 pound door closed as he whipped it hard to the left and engaged all 4 barrels of the carburetor. I shot out of there cannon, landed on both feet and hit the ground running. He didn't stop until he saw me running behind the car in his rearview mirror. He never heard the door open and close over the roar of the engine. I'm sure we had also "raised the windows down" since it was a few years before he believed in air conditioning. He didn't want anyone to think we were sissies in the A/C, and he didn't want us to get spoiled in the car since we didn't run it at the house.