The Passenger's Side, 2006, by Ryan Persinger

From MemoryArchive

Who: Ryan Persinger
What: A Memoir
When: November 2006
Where: My House

Some of the best days of my life have bent spent in the passenger seat of my friend’s car. That friend is Ben Peters. Ben and I have been friends since we were in tenth grade. Our friendship basically started out like this:

“Hey Ben, think I could get a ride home?”

“Sure, what are you doing later?”

“Nothing.”

“Then you’re going to come with me.”

From then on I was always with Ben, or Petey, as most of his friends call him. Almost every day after school we would drive around and hang out. I knew it was going to be a good day if I was in that car. That seat made me feel invincible.

I developed much of my personality from being in that car. Without Ben, I most likely would never have gotten into 311, Ra, Placebo, or most importantly, Sublime. I could always count on listening to good music. There is nary a time when I disapproved of the music choice he had selected.

Listening to those same bands and songs now brings back so many memories. Listening to Ra and driving on the road past the community center, rocking out to Incubus on the way to Iowa City to get Tim, or blaring the Beach Boys song “Cocomo” while riding around town.

”You know what?” asked Ben one day.

“What?”

“I think you may be the only person I know that can randomly sing along to Cocomo with me.”

One thing that is always fun is cleaning out the beast. I’ll pull something out from underneath the seat and be like, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” Thinkgs have been lost for long periods of time, only to be found again under the seat.

There is a certain aura that surrounds the little, white Toyota, a kind of special power that always makes me feel a certain way. When I get into the car, it takes me back to simpler times. Back when there were no worries, no fear, just freedom.