Reviewing life...

This afternoon, I was driving my new Hyundai Tuscon to meet my best friend, Sharon, for lunch.  I found myself testing out some of the features of the car and thinking about my mom.

With all of the craziness at work, I really have not had much of an opportunity to really explore the vehicle.  I have enjoyed talking to people on the phone using the built-in bluetooth speaker system.  No worries on taking a call and the bluetooth earpiece loses battery life - the car takes over and I like that.

The car also comes with AM/FM/Sirius XM radio, iPod/iPhone connection, and a CD player.  I had played around with going through the different "modes" using the steering wheel controls.  Saturday night, as I was leaving Chrissy and Scotty's house, I was flipping through the different XM stations.  Quite a few are good and some interest me.  One problem - I can only select 18 channels - that stinks, but okay.

Something that made me curious.  I had hooked up my iPhone and 3rd generation iPod (1st/2nd generation iPods do not work with the iPod connector - fooey) and had a little fun with going through the playlists and such.  However, what made me scratch my head was "Phone - mp3 player".  The controls on the radio and steering wheel do not make this work.  I pulled out my iPhone and started up the player on "How Long".  Soon, I heard Paul Carrack's voice coming over the sound system.  I laughed. 

It was at this point I thought of my mom.  I had spent the weekend at my parents' house alone.  My father wanted to stay at my apartment so that he could see his girlfriend.  I went to the urn and stroked it a few times and told "mom" I was at home.  I always cry.  It is just so hard to get over her not being there.

I thought of how much my mom loved music herself.  It was one of the things that we really shared - that love for music.  Listening to "How Long" reminded me of her and living in West Monroe, LA.  Sometimes, she would get in her Mercury Marquis and we would drive up to Arkansas to visit her friends and family there.  She would always have the radio on and that song reminded me of all of those trips.  I smiled thinking about how she would probably change the station, not because it went out of area, but looking for some other song that she wanted to hear.

I hope that where she may be, she is happy, laughing, and sharing funny stories.  I have this image of her, Aunt Jewel, Uncle Howard, and Aunt Barbara telling stories and jokes.  Aunt Marie making coffee and all of those wonderful cakes and pies, sharing her stories as well.

I love and miss you mom!