Last night as I was sitting in my car, someone in a vintage red Corvette drove up. I had forgotten how uniquely shaped they are, long in front with a big trunk area, very sleek in a way. I waited to see the driver, certainly someone who appreciates a cool car, the speed, and an image of himself as the driver of such a vehicle. He was about what I expected--jeans, a tshirt with some sort of dragon insignia. But he wasn't a young man. Definitely middle-aged. He unfolded himself from the car to reveal a short, salt and pepper haired man with his jeans hiked up around his stomach held up with a belt. A pair of white Nikes completes the picture. As he came around the car to fill up the gas tank, I wondered if he had always driven that car, or if he is finally an age where he can afford it. Did he admire someone who drove a Corvette, or does he just like the way it makes him feel? Red and fast and sleek.

My mind wandered to a time after our house had burned down in Arizona. My daughter went shopping for a pair of boots. She chose a pair of flowered Doc Martens, certainly not a necessity--we lived in Arizona--very expensive and outlandish in a way. They made a statement of some sort to a teenager, I think, and so little to ask for a girl who had just lost everything in a fire. I expressed my disapproval with a little fussing and frowning before giving in. What was I thinking?

And then I flashed back to my husband's and my first car purchase. He selected a Gremlin, which at the time was very environmentally forward thinking--small and conservative. He wanted red; I insisted on white. Honestly. How many times will he get to pick a car in his life?

I am really hoping that this spring is really warm and that man will have many days in the sunshine driving in his red Corvette. Moreover, I am hoping to hold back my conservative, annoying opinions from those who are having a little fun with the little things. Balance is what I desire and seeking after what is important. After sixty years I'm thinking that it's important to have a little reckless abandon--buy the plastic bags with the pictures on them, wear flowered boots, drive a convertible, go to Europe. Most of all, relax with the people I love, enough to share their foolish fun. Absolutely no frowning.