Surrendering the Radio

I think my family is beach deprived because on both Friday and Saturday the kids put on their swimming suits and we have gone to the beach – Gloucester on Friday and Castle Island on Saturday. Naturally, it is much to cold to go in the water and since I haven’t taken towels either day I must know that. But we keep hoping. My kids went into the ocean in November in Maine so it isn’t outside the realm of reality to assume that they could cowboy up and go in. but each time they tried they ran back out. The closest we came on Saturday to being in the water was when Will pushed Jake off a bridge and in the stream at a nature preserve. You know one of those places where they ask you to stay on the path, so as not to disturb nature. We disturbed it a little bit. Then Jake started telling all the people we passed that his brother had pushed him into the stream. I told him, “Jake, that’s one of those private family things that we don’t need to tell perfect strangers.” I hate to admit it, but sometimes I don’t want him to talk to people he doesn’t know.

On the way home from Boston my husband and I fought over the radio. The civilized kind of fighting where you listen to their radio station until you can’t stand it any longer then you change the station. We were listening to mine until Billy Idol came on, and some risqué commercials and at that point I was willing to change it myself.

He started off by listening to a little fiddle music. Then he moved on to some Honky Tonk. Then I assume he thought, “You know what’s missing – country. Yes, that’s exactly what is needed in this car!” A song came on with “the” reverberating country twang that forced us all to sing along. As the opening bars of the next song came on, my husband with stunning precognition said, "This song will be about a whiny woman, I can tell by the cords.” As Craig Morgan started singing, my husband exclaimed, “It’s a fishing song!”

I didn't know that there were country songs about anything other than drinkin', cheatin', leavin', lovin', losin', or dogs. But there are! There's one song about none of the above. It's about an aquatic trailer park, the Redneck Yacht Club.