Now It'll Never Happen

 When Avi was little, he wanted us to get a dog -- and he was quite specific -- a spotty dog.  We said when he was grown up and had a house of his own, he could get a spotty dog, and with wisdom beyond his years he protested "But maybe then I won't want one."
Same thing happened with me.  How much I longed to ride -- just once -- in a rumble seat.  They said that would have to wait until I was a little older.  And of course by the time I was a little older, there weren't any rumble seats.  Do the grandchildren even know what a rumble seat was? 
It's no fair -- these kids knew a vintage-car collector, and they got to sit in a rumble seat. 
I also remember the way suitcases were attached to running boards--not much security there.  On a cross-continental trip my aunt parked outside a restaurant and had her luggage stolen.  That would have been around 1929.
 So do the kids even know what a running board is?  They know infants need approved carriers, and toddlers have special seats -- not in the front --  and we're not starting till you've all fastened seat belts.  But what I remember -- it would have been during The Depression -- is a bunch of us piling on to the running boards and grabbing hold of window frames while the camp truck lurched down dirt roads so we could go pick sweet corn for lunch.  And we survived just fine.