by Cyd Madsen

Created on: March 20, 2009   Last Updated: April 27, 2009

The story of my childhood and adolescence can be told through the experience of drive-in restaurants. In fact, one of my first memories was being all cuddled up in jammies, my favorite doll by my side, and a "rumbly in my tumbly" as the big golden sign of Goody! Goody! drive-in restaurant got bigger as we got closer. The bigger it got, the more I fidgeted in anticipation.

My family was tiny and busy-just my mom, my grandmother, and me. No matter what the circumstances, I was always the only little one in the group, always the child, and always too young to do what the grown-ups did, except at the drive-in restaurant. There I got to order whatever I wanted because it was a special night out, and I got my own tray in the back seat of the car where I could play princess with a personal maid who brought me my dinner in bed. I was just as busy and important as the grown-ups in my world, and just as in need of being pampered after my long and important day.

At Goody! Goody! the cars drove in and parked three deep, one behind the other. Back in those days people seemed to be more friendly and slower to anger. If the person in front of us was done eating, my mother (always the driver) never complained about having to back up mid-meal so they could leave. She'd just holler out, "Hold on to your orange-aide, we're settin' to move a bit." My grandmother would always add, "Sure glad I didn't order soup," as the car backed up. She hated soup, but she loved saying her lines when the action started. I'd pretend my royal coach was backing up so a handsome prince could take another look at the stunningly beautiful princess in the back seat.

As I got a little older, my teenage uncle would sometimes come for a visit and take me to a drive-in restaurant on Saturday afternoon. When I was a grown woman my uncle confessed that Grandma had threatened him with the whoopin' of his life if he didn't take me along, but he played it cool when I was a kid and treated me decent. Teenagers used to be a little nicer to little kids back then, and acted as if they believed every word their Grandparents said, even if they knew it was a lie. Getting along together was the important thing.

Saturday afternoon at the drive-in was a whole new world for a little girl just a few years away from being a teenager herself. My uncle went to a different drive-in, one that had a bigger parking lot and didn't look as fancy as Goody! Goody! I wasn't a princess at this new drive-in, but rather a spectator of the

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