Strange associations

It’s odd–the things that remind me of my dad.

My license plates, for instance.

When I bought this vehicle in 2004, I was issued Virginia’s standard Jamestown plate (”1607-2007″). (Not the ones with the little boat on them–they were $15 extra. I have no desire to enrich the People’s Republic of Northern Virginia any more than I must.) It was odd that Virginia didn’t have anything more timely to 2004 to put on its plates back then; I for one would have been honored to display a plate commemorating the Burr-Hamilton duel of 1804. Maybe with little stick-figure drawings with guns. Or the “before” scene on the front plate (Burr and Hamilton aiming their pistols at each other) and the “after” on the back (Burr dead on the ground, Hamilton standing with one foot on Burr’s chest–history be damned!).

But I digress.

I thought the plates were odd since the Jamestown commemorations were still three years away. And the first time I drove home in the new vehicle, my dad mentioned the plates right away and said the same thing. And then–ever the history teacher–gave me a little quiz on the history of Jamestown. Which I failed.

I have no idea why that memory sticks in my head. We had a lot of conversations like that when I was home.

But now it is 2007, and the Queen is in Virginia to mark the Jamestown anniversary, and this has come rushing back.