The other day when I was going into the local Bojangles, I spotted a station wagon parked there in their parking lot. That station wagon brought back so many memories from back in the day when my family had one, too.
Nowadays, it seems like SUVs and minivans have taken the place of the station wagon. Back when I was a child, however, that was a very practical ride for a family of six like ours. It especially came in handy when we would leave out in the early morning hours headed up to Banner Elk to see my Uncle Julius or to Elizabethton, Tennessee to see my Uncle Clarence.
You see, back then, we didn’t have seat belts or harnesses to keep us sitting straight up in our seats. Mama would throw some cover in the back for us kids and we would sleep all the way up the mountain. Back then, we could go right back to sleep and just leave the driving to daddy because we had complete faith and trust that he would get us where we were going.
I remember once when we were headed up through those mountains and someone ran us off the road. That car seemed to be using our lane more than his own, so daddy drove right off the road and just let that other driver have the whole road for himself. It was only by the grace of God that the place where daddy had to leave the road was not down the side of the mountain, but was an open field that he could pull into. When he got that station wagon stopped, dust rose up around us like a cloud.
I think daddy would probably have felt a little bit better if he had been able to tell that other driver what he really thought about his driving. Since the car didn’t even stop to check on us, however, he didn’t get a chance to vent his feelings — except to mom who was so scared she couldn’t even speak, for once in her lifetime.
Another trip I remember that was made in that station wagon was to the beach to go spot fishing. Besides the six of us, a couple who were good friends of ours, also went along. That means there were four adults and four children riding in that station wagon as well as our fishing equipment.
Sometimes when we went fishing, daddy would put his boat motor in the car and then rent a boat to fish out of. This time at least we didn’t have a motor to take up room, too, because we planned to fish off the pier.
We ended up spending the night in that station wagon. You see, the fish were really biting and the men wanted to stay out there and keep fishing. When it started getting really late, mama took the four of us back to the car and spread out blankets and quilts for us to sleep on. She stretched out on the front seat (which was a bench-type seat) and was probably able to get some sleep herself for a while.
It seemed like just about the time we really got comfortable and were catching some Z’s, along comes the men and the other lady and piled in that station wagon. I felt like I was squashed up against the back glass by the time that other couple got in and sorta pushed us out of the way. I couldn’t help but think: “This is our car, folks, in case you forgot.” I didn’t say that, of course, because I wasn’t raised to be that smart-mouthed (that just sorta happened over time).
On another fishing trip, we took that station wagon to Shallotte. Daddy did take his boat motor on that trip and then rented a boat to take us out into the inland waterway. When we came back to the marina later in the day, he pulled up to the dock there and we all unloaded onto the pier. As we got toward the end of that little pier, I noticed a beautiful black and white dog wandering around there. Just as I started up to pet the dog, it yelped like it was in pain.
When I got closer, I realized the dog had tried to bite down on a little fish and ended up with the hook in his mouth. It was stuck right through his poor tongue and I knew it had to be painful for that poor pooch. I was all ready to try and help it but daddy came up and warned me to be careful because that dog didn’t even know us. He said he would go to the car and get his toolbox. Just as he started to walk away, another man came over with some wire cutters in his hand. Daddy held the dog while the stranger cut the barb off the hook and then pushed it back out of the dog’s tongue.
As soon as daddy turned that dog loose, it took off like a streak. It was gone like lightning before we could even pet it. We didn’t see it again while we were there and I hope it learned a lesson about playing around on the pier.
As I look back now on all those trips my family made in that station wagon, I can’t help but think how nice it was to be able to sit back and let someone else do the driving. It was nice and safe there in the back and I’m sure I thought daddy could handle whatever problems happened to come along. Since he always did just that — whether it was a driver on the wrong side of the road or kids asking him for the millionth time, “Are we almost there?” I must have placed my confidence in the right man to do the job!!
If you have good memories about your childhood make sure you share those memories with your children and grandchildren, or else they will just fade away and no one will ever hear them. If you’re not a good storyteller, at least write them down so they will live on for future generations to enjoy.
Azalea R. Bolton is a resident of Richmond County, member of the Story Spinners of Laurinburg, and member of the Historical Society in Richmond and Anson Counties