90/365

I drove a minivan in high school. Repeat: I drove a minivan in high school. That's right. I rocked a white 1990 Mazda MPV for 2-and-a-half years. (Remember this info for a little later on.)

It was spring of my sophomore year of high school when Heather Hancock introduced me to a little band known as Vertical Horizon. At the time, I was a 90's country girl. I could sing every Dixie Chicks and Deana Carter song backwards in Spanish if you asked me to. But, my pop/rock music consumption was slim to none. That all changed the first time I heard the VH record. We wore that thing out in her brand new Jeep Wrangler driving back and forth between the high school and the Dairy Dump. Vanilla ice cream cones and a hot-off-the-press drivers license make for an intoxicating kind of freedom.

The "Everything You Want" record has since become the longest living record in my collection to date. And over the last 11 years it has turned into quite the summer fling. All winter it hybernates in my drivers side door just waiting for the perfect spring day with the perfect temperature. Today was that day. I dusted it off (literally). Actually, I had to wipe off some remnants of old granola bars that had fallen down in the case. But once I slid that sucker in the player, I escaped back to those first days of flying. I started thinking about how Heather had just moved to Sterling from New Mexico that year. And how she loved the Dixie Chicks like I did. And how she was one of the first people who encourage me to sing. And how she ended up being kind of crazy and punched my friend Brenna in the face one time (another day). Then...

No sooner than track 2, I pull into Sonic (which also reminds me of high school). And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A WHITE 1990 MAZDA MPV MINIVAN!!!! The perfect storm of a Mazda MPV with Vertical Horizon in my speakers while parked at Sonic created a nostalgic hurricane. That hand-me-down van will forever be a symbol of who I am. The first and only tank of gas my parents ever bought me. The modest upbringing I am so proud of. It will also be the visual trigger for a glory days' worth of memories I still wanna talk about today. And some that I'd rather not ;)

I could go on and on about all the portraits that flashed through my mind when I looked over to find that minivan today. But there isn't a blog entry long enough to explain what that van stands for in my eyes. All I know is that I experienced the trinity of "take-me-backs" today- SONIC meets VERTICAL HORIZON meets THE MPV. It was a good, good day.