[ponyakr]

just heard an old country song today on a local country station which plays nothin but the old country, some call it real country--you know--when the country band still had a steel guitar & a fiddle--not this new stuff where all the dudes have an electric guitar & try 2 look & act like heavy metal rockers. i been listenin 2 country for a long time & i can tell ya fur shore that new stuff AIN'T country! anyhow i think the name of this song was "daddy let me drive". he described the truck as an old short bed ford, with 3 on the tree. said his daddy would let him drive & would encourage him by sayin somethin like " thats allrite son, your doin just fine. so that took me imediately back 2 my grammar school days when my daddy would let me drive all our trucks, tractors & cars. & although my 1st pickup was a stude, we did have a short bed ford in the '50's & both trucks had a 3 on the tree. & my dad was always there 2 help & encourage me & tell me what i was doin wrong & how 2 correct it. i reckin young folks take a lot of things for granted. i just thought all the kids were learnin how 2 drive. obviously that wasn't true. so as i look back on my life, i can see how special my dad was & can now more appreciate all the things he did for me. he wasn't perfect & neither am i, but i know he loved me & always did everything he could 2 help me along through life. & i now realize that many people did not have a "cool" dad like mine. some were mistreated by there dad or had dads that didn't really care much about them. & of course some never even knew who their dad was. so, i'll have 2 say that i feel truely blessed 2 have had a dad who loved me, took time 2 show me & help me learn things, & promise 2 always be there 2 help if i ever needed him. i believe that some day i'll see him again & i can tell him then how much i appreciated what he meant 2 me while he was on this earth.