Time out for a personal message

When I originally started this blog one of my main goals was to use it to stay in touch with family back home.  Five years later my little slice of the internet has morphed from a place primarily about keeping in touch to a place for me to practice writing in the hopes I’ll be discovered as the next Erma Bombeck, the Pioneer Woman will ask me to guest post and Amy Adams will play me on the big screen after my blog turns into a best seller and is sold to Hollywood…

Until that happens, I’ll continue to use my blog to say, “Hey!” to the folks back home.  And in this case, I’m saying, “Hi, Chuck!”  Chuck, Sean’s dad, passed on his love of all things automotive to Sean and Michael.  And when we toured GM’s Heritage Center on Tuesday we so wished he could have been with us.

The Heritage Center is in Sterling Heights, a bit under two hours from Lansing.  According to the website, the Center, “serves as a showplace for the vehicles of the GM Heritage Collection, and as the home of the Heritage and Media Archive.”  Showplace is an understatement; it was the most amazing collection of GM cars I’ve ever seen.  And honey, in the last 22 years, I’ve been to a lot of these types of museums – this one was head and shoulders above anything we’ve ever seen. 

As we were about to enter the room with the cars, Rebecca asked us to wait to go in until she tied her shoes.  It was like putting a cookie on the end of a dog’s nose and saying, “Wait.”  It also reminded me of the time Sean and I took Michael to the Henry Ford Museum when he was only two.  He got one look at the line of cars and took off – he ran down the rows, clapping his hands and shrieking for joy. 

Michael, usually a very fine big brother, and Sean, usually a very fine Dad, just couldn’t wait.  They slipped in and drank in all the shiny metal. 

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so all these pictures were taken with my iPhone.  Such a major bummer.

Chuck, we wish you’d been with us.  We’ll have to figure out a way to get back there with you.

Look at all that shiny, colorful metal

Corvette Concept

Nothing like driving a car with two big boobs on the front.  Weren't the 50's grand?

When Sean and I were dating, he bought a Firebird.  I was distraught because this was all I could picture and believe me, I was not riding around in a redneck Firebird with a screaming chicken on the hood.  That's not, of course, what Sean bought, but his Dad told me it was.  Still one of my favorite Chuck memories.

Very first Firebird

Corvette Pace Car

Michael and a '63 'Vette.  He loves the split window - it's my favorite Corvette, too, because I can always tell what year it is.  1963 was the only year with the split rear window.  There's your car fact for today.  You're welcome.

Even after spending several hours looking at cars on the inside, these two wanted to look at the cars in the company parking lot right outside.  

____________