8th Annual Bowling For Beth | Elizabeth L. Joksimovic Foundation

Letter from the Editor

The View from the Floor of the Backseat

Recently, I watched the movie The Way Way Back on Netflix. The title refers to the rear-facing back seat of station wagons, which were popular in the 1970’s. In the movie, the main character is banished to the way way back by his mom’s jerk-of-a-boyfriend.

B4B_Pool This got me thinking about the road trips our family took during this same time period. We didn’t have a station wagon, yet that didn’t stop my older siblings, Beth and Mike, from putting me in the least comfortable spot possible. As soon as they got in the car, Beth would stretch her legs out across the back seat and Mike would do the same from the opposite side (this was before the days of seat belt laws and car seats!), so my only seating option was on the floor. Also, in those days, the cars had large humps going across the middle of the back seat so there wasn’t much room to stretch out. To make matters worse, I would get car sick every single time we traveled, and being stuffed on the floor didn’t help alleviate my nausea. I did get my revenge by vomiting all
over Beth’s sandals in the mountains of Pennsylvania, on a Sunday, when no stores or gas stations were open.

As horrible as this scenario sounds, I look back fondly on these family vacations. We didn’t have portable electronic devices to ignore each other with, so we found ways to pass the time as a family. We played the license plate game, Mad Libs, I Spy and listened to Cubs games on WGN radio. We ate at Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel and although our parents, Duke and Mary Lou tried to make the trips educational and cultural, all we really cared about was staying at a hotel that had a pool.

This year’s theme for Bowling for Beth is family. This is perfect, because family meant more to Beth than anything else. And our family looks forward to seeing you and your family for another great event on Sunday, March 1st at Waveland Bowl!

Warmly,

Shelley Joksimovic
Editor, BETH Magazine