The other day I took a drive down amnesia lane and was reminded of a time back in my high school career, I was one of the first members of my circle of friends who gained the ability to drive.

So that's what we did. Drive. Everywhere and nowhere. The destination wasn't important, it was just a matter of being out on the roads travelling. An afternoon or evening out for us wasn't about hanging out with the cool people down at the mall, or getting into various types of trouble that are common ailments of teenager life, but simple about travelling the open road usually accompanied by our own mix tapes of music instead of the often drab offerings of the only rock station available to us (the sad story of how the owners of that radio station bought out their more popular competition and chanegd their venue to country music is a rant for another day). Over time we managed to explore quite a bit of the back roads and neighborhoods of the city, some of it is lost to me in the mists of time, but I'm still confident with only minor mistakes I could be taken blindfolded to just about any place in that city and remaining blindfolded be able to navigate after being told where I was located.

I had a habit of pulling up next to other drivers at stop lights and asking them, "Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?"

Usually I would get a laugh and then when the other driver indicated sadly that they did not have any to share, I would pick up the jar that I kept on my console and offer them some of mine. *Smile* That jar stayed in my car for several years, its only purpose was as tool for this joke since I would not become a fan of spicy mustard until many years later. At that time I was still fairly limited and conservative in my culinary experiences.

We managed to develop or sometimes just spontaneously created several interesting ways to interact with other drivers. One of the best examples was a time when we took a roadtrip to Atlanta to visit my Fairy Godmother (yet another story for another time) who had already graduated and gone off to Agnes Scott College. Somehow we ended up wandering around the downtownish area of town, the only one of us with any clue on navigating the area had very little exposure since she spent most of her time on campus. So there were a couple time when we would be in the left turn lane when she would annouce "turn right", needless to say being young and bold meant that several basic driving rules were chucked out the window and we made a right turn (also the fact that the roads were fairly empty at the time helped also).

We were stopped at a light when a car full of boys pulled up next to us who had decided to ride around without wearing any shirts that day. So my one friend who was in the backseat looks over and observes these fine upstanding memebers of the gentry and was heard to ask with an exaggerated nasal whine, "Excuse me, are you wearing any pants?"

I will admit, that as funny as that comment was, my first thoughts at the time was "Oh my god, we're gonna die" We were not exactly an athletic group of people and none of use were known for our bravery even though our carload outnumbered theirs, so there was a collective sigh of relief when someone else observed, "Good thing our windows are rolled up."

Emboldened by this observation, several more comments and questions were directed to the other car for the next several lights, including, "Excuse me, Are you jewish?"

To this day I occasionally will look over at another vehicle beside me when stopped at an intersection and have an insane smile on my face.