Go to Flipping the Gidget
- Add a comment
- Go to Men like Daddy.
Evangeline, thank you so much for the lovely compliment.
Ah, muscle cars and late night drag racing. Hot engines...I remember that smell, too. Such good memories. My dad bought me my dream car: 1968 Camero...RS. It had bald tires and a nitrous system...not street legal. My dad was going to fix it up in the shop, but he got mad at me and sold it. Probably better that way. ;)
posted by
Temple
on June 17, 2004 at 8:38 PM
| link to this | reply
Shavonne, anytime I can provide inspiration I'm happy.
When you have the lack of real family in your life, you do tend to gravitate into interesting situations...good and bad. Makes it hard to trust or believe in things, too, I've found. Maybe you can relate. I did the same court ordered visitation stuff with my father. Some good memories there, but overall it's just tough.
Those moments with my friend's families gave me a taste of that sense of belonging that I've never really known. It was an honor to share it with them.
posted by
Temple
on June 17, 2004 at 8:34 PM
| link to this | reply
great writing
This is some beautiful memoir writing. I was also raised around muscle cars and men who knew how to fix them. God. We used to buy a car for a few hundred dollars, strip it and race it at Rockaway Beach. I can still smell the hot engines, the ocean brine. At night, we girls would wait on the boardwalk, still warm from the summer sun, and we would watch the heat lightening flash out over the Atlantic. Sometimes those days seem more real to me than the minutes I am living right now...
posted by
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
on June 17, 2004 at 11:45 AM
| link to this | reply
The whole family thing is one reason why I'm probably so attracted to Mexican men. I wasn't raised with my family, and being an "only child" didn't really help either.
My dad is part of a very large family, but I didn't get to see them much-only in the summer time or major holidays.
I totally forgot what I was going to say about your post. Great post. It stirs up a lot of things for me to write about.
posted by
Shavonne
on June 16, 2004 at 10:07 PM
| link to this | reply
I live to make you warm and gooey inside.
It's my life's work today. ;) Trollup. :::giggle:::
posted by
Temple
on June 14, 2004 at 5:39 PM
| link to this | reply
:::: Sigh ::::: No-one else calls me a trollup like you ;) xx
Thank you, now I feel all warm and gooey inside
.
posted by
Moohahaha
on June 14, 2004 at 5:34 PM
| link to this | reply
wench, how do you make ANYTHING sound sexy?
Indeed, you are a trollup. Yay trollups! Thanks, gorgeous.
posted by
Temple
on June 14, 2004 at 5:32 PM
| link to this | reply
behave yourself, billy cargo, and you just might!
I still have those shirts. :) Well, we were feeling critique-y this morning (your morning). Thank you for the compliments on writing structure and style. That is always nice.
posted by
Temple
on June 14, 2004 at 5:30 PM
| link to this | reply
Cass, you are so very welcome.
It makes me happy to put voices in your head. :) Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
posted by
Temple
on June 14, 2004 at 5:26 PM
| link to this | reply
I hoped you would like it, benzinha.
I think these stories all the time, but your stories inspired me to write it down. I was such daddy's little girl, and while I was still little, it was exceptional. It has it's moments even now. Depending on which set of parents you look at, I am the only child....the baby of the family...and the oldest. I have done all but middle child. I have such good memories of those days. I think I used to put everything possible on the tips of my fingers to eat. I used to get in trouble for doing that in restaurants. :)
posted by
Temple
on June 14, 2004 at 5:25 PM
| link to this | reply
Mmmm, lovely, sensory memories, beautiful girl :) xx
posted by
Moohahaha
on June 14, 2004 at 3:24 PM
| link to this | reply
temple...I can see you there as a sweet little girl
sucking the bugle dust off you fingers. this is well written with really good structure. you do a good job wrapping it up and tying in to the original image. of course the image i'd like to see is the hottie in the gulf work shirt...tied at the mid-rif
posted by
FreeManWalking
on June 14, 2004 at 6:30 AM
| link to this | reply
Temple that was a beautiful story. I really enjoyed reading it and you have written it so well the images played out in my head. Thank you.
posted by
Ca88andra
on June 14, 2004 at 4:27 AM
| link to this | reply
Temple, I love these gas station, mechanic, handsome daddy stories.
Being a daughter is easier than being a son, I hear. Being the oldest, makes you almost a son, however.
You made me remember my daddy taking me downtown with him to the newspaper offices. I would go down into the basement where the HUGE presses and printers were. Everyone who worked down there was deaf, you had to be. It was my first taste of Ameslan and I wanted to learn to sign after that.
They would print a headline about my being the first female President of the US or something else fun like that. I would get to keep the headline in its original metal plate. He took me to court to listen to trials, to the jail to meet sheriffs and prisoners, to the press club to listen to reporters talk about their day and to the press room, his office, where everyone smoked three cigarettes at a time and typed like maniacs without using the proper hand positions, just two fingers, but fast.
Taking children to your workplace is so very important. Thanks for walking me down this memory lane of mine and for walking me down yours. Bugles on your fingers, reminded me of my kids eating them like that.
posted by
benzinha
on June 14, 2004 at 2:46 AM
| link to this | reply