Little Red Corvette

I remember the day my dad came home with a brand new, silver 1978 L82 Corvette. I remember the smell and feel of the leather and the sound of it starting up since my bedroom was right next to the garage. I heard it start every morning when my dad left for work. Hearing it, I knew I had another hour of sleep before my mom would wake me up for school. The day my dad took delivery of the "Vette", he noticed a paint chip on the nose of it, which came to a point way in front of the driver. The salesman who was delivering the car kept reminding my dad how long the nose was on the car, as if he had a guilty conscience regarding the appearance of this mysterious paint chip.

We had some very fond memories of that car, like the time we fit six people in it on the way home from Mid-Island Plaza shopping mall. Being the two youngest, Ellen and I were wedged under the glass bubble back window. This was long before seat belt laws.

When I was ten, my dad brought Ellen and I to Kennedy Airport to take pictures of planes for my bedroom wall. I was a plane nut, much like my son is today. We were hoping to get a shot of the elusive Concord on approach to the runway. We did manage to get the photo, but a short time later, as we were crossing one of the outer access roads to the airport, I dropped something in the road and turned around to get it. I heard my dad's voice yell to me with terror in it. At about the same time, I heard the loudest screeching breaks ever and found myself staring face-to-face with a Cadillac. I lost that battle. I remember sitting in the airport hospital while my dad was making arrangements to get me to Central General Hospital in Plainview. When he came back in to the room, my sister asked him if they were going to take me to the hospital or to the "Vette". The nurse looked in horror thinking they were going to take me to an animal hospital.

On July 3, I photographed the wedding of Jennifer and David at David's parent's property in Honeoye. I'm just now posting it since I left for vacation the next morning. I actually took a vacation and avoided using my laptop. It was easier than in the past since I was able to stay connected to the world with my iPhone though I was hanging on to the edge of civilization with barely a bar of cell phone signal. I'll get back to the vacation in the next post.

Jennifer's brother has a red 1980 L82 Corvette that we got to play with. When I poked my head inside, a flood of memories came back to me. Things I haven't thought of in 30 years were as clear in my mind as if it were yesterday.

Jennifer and David had a great wedding. David's mom Cynthia put in a ton of work landscaping her yard to make it the perfect wedding location. The Little Red Corvette was the cherry on top.