Why be part of an automobile club?

To say that I was raised in a typical American family wouldn't even begin to do my youth justice. In reality I was raised in a high performance family with dozens of mothers and fathers who met nearly every weekend and went on multiple vacations together.. in our hot rods annually. I have one blood sister but dozens of rod siblings, mostly whom I have lost contact with, which is to be expected in most respects but sad all the same.

Growing up in my fathers custom 1933 Chevrolet meant the world to me even though I didn't fully realize it at the time. Dads love for cars brought his family an expanded community of like minded souls that are/were really good people. This community that was so common to us seems missing in many peoples lives today. That sense of belonging, of mutual respect and admiration that helps fill the empty crevices of our inner beings, it feeds us and makes us more compassionate loving people to all we come in contact with.

Like many others I too have weaved in and out of the kids sports communities over the last few decades of raising my own children now. While that is close to the community I speak of, it is not the same because its kid focused rather than family & adult focused. Kid focused communities are short lived for both the parents and the children because well, kids grow up! They move onto their adolescent interests and eventually career pursuits. Parents and young adults can coach to stay in the game but its a different ball of wax completely. Not able to continue that community of both friends and family, who tend to keep you accountable to the best version of you and just plain live life with you, I feel people tend to drift.

Of course while some amount of drifting is a necessary part of maturing into an adult most would argue that an excess of drifting about looking for things to "connect" to without that centering core of identity may very be the conundrum facing the American people. We have become, in general, a group of synchronized swimmers doing the dance of life together but solely apart and buoyant on our abilities alone. This independence often leads to selfishness, materialism and the facade of living a life equivalent to keeping up with the Jones, but that's another subject all together I cant get into here besides pointing fingers at it for the level of disconnect and depression I see in today's society.

The point that I was hoping to make is that we need to resurrect, revive, create and support more "adulting" communities, not limited to the one I grew up in of course but any and every activity where family bonds are made, laughter and fresh air is shared, facades are let down revealing our vulnerabilities enabling us to work through life's hard moments and grow as a person. Real activity based groups open to young and old alike and diverse enough that all can not only feel welcome and valued but who can speak into one another lives in a meaningful way as we enjoy this thing called life.

Moral? Get a hobby, include your family, treat others as your family and stick to it like a marriage, through thick and thin. This would aid us all ages 7, 17, 27, 47, 67 & 87 alike because through community comes trust and through trust comes love <3

Thanks Dad for yet another life lesson, the extended family, and the love of high performance vehicles that look OOOOH SOOOO Pretty!