Flashback Friday

I apologize for letting other things get in the way, and I've been remiss in having guest writers.  But not today.  Today's Flashback Friday is brought to us by my friend, coworker and faithful reader JMc.  This was brought about by a conversation in the lunchroom this week.  Thanks for being such a faithful reader, JMc.  You rock.

Remember back in the day when there was no texting, no cell phones, no CD or DVD players with screens in the headrest, no seat belt laws, no Heavy Hitter commercials, people weren’t shocked to death about a person coming home from work with a nice, cold beer in their hand and driving, WAKY was on the am and the majority of the cars were not hatchbacks and SUV didn’t have a definition?


We had cars and some cars at that time had a huge space under the rear window called a “Package Tray”. Yep, that’s the official name of it unless you were a small child then it was the “lay down rear viewing area.” If you had a parent that didn’t mind,  it was another way to view the world going by on the road.

This huge space offered another play area with Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls and a just a typical catch all. I’ve seen fishing poles in some vehicles, magazines and newspapers to name a few articles that have found residence time on these roving shelves of wonder.

Then in the teenage years it was a place to have some screaming 6 x 9’s blowing out the windows with the new stereo system and always have the manufacturer’s name on them bad boys to show people that you forked out some change for your tunes. Of course the rear passengers would be temporarily deaf from the cruising that night of listening to Styx, Led, REO, Van Halen and don’t forget Boston.

Those days of freedom in the cars are now all but forgotten due to the man, holding us down on choices with seat belts on or ticket. At least no one dies in car crashes anymore, right? Don’t hate here just joking.

So, there you go. Another history lesson about “Back in the day”.

I'm proud to say that I remember many times laying in the Package Tray of our big old Chevy Impala.  I don't remember playing with any toys back there; I just remember laying up there.  In fact, when we would take road trips (re: any trip longer than 20 minutes from our home in PRP) that's where I would be.  Grandma and Grandpa would usually be in the back seat, so they would be able to catch me if Dad had to make a sudden break.  But I had my own little pillow in that area, and would just lay down and crash while we went somewhere.