The Brown & White

My mom is no dud, she's cool; she's been cool since forever and all my friends have always thought she was the coolest mom, because she was. I distinctly remember one time when she packed up her SUV with my siblings and I and six of our friends and took us down to the park to go fishing one day during the summer.

When other parents were annoyed by their miserably bored children during the hot days of summer, they'd ship them off to my house where my mom would gladly provide all the entertainment for the day.

Anyway, so we all went fishing, we all got ice cream and we all came home. Except on the way home, my mom decided to play the Shania Twain song, "Man I feel like a woman." She lowered all of the windows, opened the sunroof and blasted Shania at full volume for the rest of the car ride. She had nine kids between the ages of 8 and 13 giggling like mad in the car, arms and heads hanging out the window, and my was mom rocking out (doing something resembling a DPhi fist-pump out the window).

We probably looked like a bunch of lunatics and many people who witnessed the scene probably thought my mom was an unfit parent, but in reality she's the fittest in the world. It was literally the best car ride of my life and my friends still remember it to this day.

Thanks to Tracey Tolerico, her free-spirit and willingness to be a kid at the age of 40 (when all the other moms on my block were at home in the air-conditioning thanking God their kids were out of their hair), I gained my appreciation and love of a quick Lehigh hill ride.

There is nothing like a nice sunny day at 4 p.m., preferably Friday (but any day will do), riding around the Hill blasting tunes and screaming at the top of your lungs just for the hell of it.

It's understandably annoying to hear a bunch of screaming girls belting out Spice Girls and Counting Crows when you're not participating in the hill ride and are, for example, at the library being responsible and trying to get your work done for the weekend. But like, get over it, the noise lasts for about two minutes, and don't lie, it probably makes you smirk for a second or two.

So anyway for all of you out there who haven't experienced a hill ride, I think you should get on it - maybe even put it before your homework or the gym and make it a priority; it's only a few minutes out of your day.

You can even make hill ride mix, it's just a suggestion. I actually have my spring mix sitting in slot No. 1 of my car, labeled, "Rain or shine it's hill ride time, Spring 08." Whatever. I'm not even embarrassed.

Hill rides are amazing. They can last as long as you want them to, which can be a single loop around the fraternity houses, or they can last until your car runs out of gas. It all depends on how stressed you are, how free-spirited you feel and how long it takes until you're forced to stop.

Hill riding is a sign of spring, a sign that it's warm enough to drive around with the windows down (and your arms and head handing out). We're growing up fast. Hill riding is almost like freeze-framing the day, giving us a chance to roam around, wind through our hair, friends at our side, being kids for a couple of minutes during the afternoon.

Life is stressful, and sometimes all it takes to de-stress, reenergize and gain appreciation for the amazing life you have is a speedy ride around town singing with your friends, breathing in fresh air while squinting from the shining sun.

I tried to go on a hill ride with my mom and sister on the way to the mall this weekend. I was driving, my mom was in the front seat, and we tried to reminiscence on the old Shania-Twain-ice-cream-cone-eating days.

My mom cracked up as "Bleeding Love" thumped through the car and the freezing wind blew her perfectly blow-dried hair all over her face. She screamed it was too cold for a hill ride and begged me to put her window up. So while it is possible to get a little too excited, and prematurely take your mom on a hill ride when it's a mere 40 degrees outside, I don't think any of us should try to grow up too fast.

Hill rides are for the cool kids, the ones not ready to give into adulthood just yet, the ones who want to play around and enjoy some free time the good old fashioned way, the way we used to when we were young and had not a care in the world.

So get out in your car with some pals, roll the windows down and crank up the volume. Smile, 'cause life is good.

Maybe grab an ice cream cone and throw in a fishing stop. Shania Twain is great for setting the carefree mood … just ask my mom.