Here’s Johnny

My dad, John Picetti (far right), pictured adrift somewhere in the 70s.

You may know him from the posts of this blog as the Italian-American Man-Servant. Or perhaps you know him by the names UJP, Uncle Grump, or even Little Johnny. Emma calls him Papa. I call him Dad. And now everyone in the blogosphere will recognize him as the special guest contributor of this entry.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for John Picetti.

.

Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, Cars and Soccer Moms

Wow, this sounds pretty interesting, sex, drugs, rock & roll and that other stuff, but this is just a cheap attempt to lure you into the article about an epiphany that has just happened to me. It’s funny how you can go your whole life being something, and then in the honk of a horn, your life has spun 179°.

As far back as I can recall I have always considered my self a cool guy. There was never a need to try to be cool because I just was. I’ll admit that I wasn’t the smartest, the most handsome, the most athletic, the (oh how I hate this one) tallest, BUT I always was the coolest. Later in life this coolness factor manifested itself in my choice of motor vehicles. I won’t bore you with a litany of all the cars I have owned, but there have been a few great (again cool) examples of the automobiles industries finest. My very first car was a 1960 Falcon station wagon, ok, not cool to the average eye, but it did haul my drums, and for dates, because of the seats folding down… enough said. A few years later I owned a baby blue 1962 Chevy Impala. The word COOL does not really do this beauty justice. The first new car we owned (I’m married now) was a 1968 Ford Mustang. It felt like we were driving around on wet streets in a new car commercial. Black exterior, black interior, long, and shining, the 2005 Buick is the type of car Frank Costello would be seen riding around in if he were alive today, that’s how cool our current car is.

Now, lets get to heart of the matter. No, I don’t officially own this mode of transportation, but I do drive it an awful lot. An awful lot. Do you have your seat belts on, because we are now tooling around the greater bay area in a 2007 Dodge van. That’s right fun seekers, a van, and it’s red too. The reason for this updated Wally wagon is to transport the two most precious pieces of cargo that I could possible have, my son and his daughter. The time Jason and I spend in the Dodge is very special to me, it’s our alone time, the time we can laugh and cry and share minutes together in our own private world. This is a world only a father and son could share, be it a ice cream cone after a little league baseball game,  here put this money in your pocket and don’t tell your mother, and I am so, so very sorry this has happened to you.

So now due to the car I drive, I have become a soccer mom, and I wouldn’t change it for a second. At least I’m a cool soccer mom.

Advertisement