Get them to look out the window....

I checked out a book from the library.... The Usborne Big Book of Experiments...and as I was flipping through the pages I came across a picture that just struck a million memories into my mind... it was a picture of crumbling bricks...it immediately brought me back to the time when I used to sit in the back of my dad's 1988 navy blue Toyota station wagon...I suddenly had a flash back of all of the days I would sit in the back seat and just stare out the window letting my imagination and curiosity run wild. No cell phones, no car t.v's, no gadgets, no distractions.

I remember while in elementary school, everyday, my dad would drive me to school. He would turn on his radio station, or ask me questions...but during this whole time I would just stare out the window. I would stare at the usual landmarks...I would stare at the people and their faces, trying to wonder what they were thinking, or what their life was like. I would stare at the trees, the leaves, the bark, the shapes... lol) ...I would stare at all of the buildings...the Hudson river...and then I would stare at all of the bricks supporting the over passes and the ramps...I would ask my dad questions...like "why are the bricks on the bottom fading away?...." My dad always had an answer...he would explain to me the scientific reason behind it...I thought it was fascinating. And it brought some interesting conversations...like "what is crack?" when seeing this famous picture on a handball court wall...and going to school in Spanish Harlem, you would see first hand what crack does to you...just by staring out the window...

I would stare at all of the little plants along the side of the road and try to recognize the flowers. As we approached the FDR highway I would stare into the forest and always look for a pack of dogs that I normally saw wondering around. I would imagine befriending one or taking one home to take care of. I would wonder, were they left there by someone? Were they born there? How did they eat? Did someone feed them? Were they nice?  As we would get closer to our destination...the expected bumper to bumper traffic would start close to the bottleneck...I would hear my dad sigh, and remember how he explained to me the other day what a bottleneck was...I would look out the front window and imagine what I would do if I was driving (I guess this is where my back seat driver kicked in

Even now as I get older...as I stare out the window (while my husband is driving of course! lol) I glance into the other cars...but I usually don't see little faces staring back...I see them glued to a T.V screen hooked up to their parent's head rest, or I see teenagers staring down at their iPhones or whatever gadgets in their hand...even I am that person in the front seat staring down at my phone when I should be doing other things...like looking out the window...

So this isn't meant to be a guilt trip, but just an eye opener. I hope this resonates with someone...