Car Talk

I don't know why, but my best friends from high school and I always do our serious talking in the car. My friend E and I used to sit in the car outside her house and talk for hours. Maybe it was because as 16 year olds we couldn't really be guaranteed privacy in her house or in mine? There were always siblings or parents who wanted to 'just ask one thing', or 'just see what you girls are up to'.

To escape this, we would go out for a meal or grab hot chocolate (before my induction into the coffee-loving world). We would chat, and it always seemed like the really important discussions would start up just as we got in the car to go home. We talked about boys, of course. School, our plans for college, friends, family, religion, race, the future, our dreams...every topic under the sun would be discussed in my born-the-same-year-as-I-was red Volvo sedan with leather seats and working sunroof. (My first car, I still miss it.)

Five years later, even though I no longer live with my parents, my friend H and I found ourselves in this exact same position last night. Different car, hers this time. We had decided to go to dinner on a whim, found a cute, tiny restaurant in Albany where the only other patrons were a couple in their mid-twenties, a pair of ten year old boys who were pretty much cuter than words, playing grown ups in this classy little place, and seven or eight cops...off duty perhaps? Maybe not? Who knows.

After dinner, we drove the .9 miles back to my apartment. And then spent an hour and a half sitting in H's car, listening to an sex-themed hip-hop/r&b Wednesday-night college radio show. (Check out Cypress Hill feat. Pitbull & Marc Anthony - Armada Latina.) And we just talked. About boys, of course. School, our plans for grad/law school, friends, family, religion, race, the future, our dreams...

So maybe the car is the best place for deep conversations. Or maybe its just that once you really get on a role, it doesn't matter where you are. But car talk with my dearest friends is something I always look forward to.