A tale that really doesn't need to be told

Weird. Dad is a very, very funny guy. He was much funnier before diabetes slowed his mind, but he still can break loose a rip snorter when he wants to. However, one place he simply finds no humor is in car safety.
He drives a couple miles under the speed limit. His reasoning was sound...he wanted to obey the law and figured that way if he got a little bit of "lead foot" it would take him to, not past, the speed limit. He maintains the 3 second plus a car length for every 10 MPH over 35 that is recommended. He widens that gap when it rains. Long before it became a law I hate, he demanded we all wear our seat belts when he drove.
In other words, when it comes to car safety Dad is very conservative and safe and careful.
Well, one day when I was in first or second grade snow fell. I know, you all think I am lying, the last recorded snowfall in Oregon having been about three thousand years ago. Well, it only SEEMS that way. This was a pretty good snowfall, too. Sue and Duane and John and I all listened to the radio hoping Montavilla would have canceled school. Of course, they hadn't. Dad called in, but nobody was at school, as traditionally they were not at the time we left for school. So we all hopped in the Corolloa, a sturdy, good gas mileage Toyota, and made our way to school.
Naturally, Dad took it slow and safe. I doubt we topped 35 mph and guarantee we did not top 45mph the entire way in. And sure enough, we got there, and school was closed. A collective groan arose as we anticipated another slow hour and change to get home. Duane said, "Do some cookies!"
We all laughed. We doubted Dad even knew what a cookie was. Besides, even if a Corolla (go find a picture of a 77 Corolla...if you find CNY 314 on the license plate, that was our car. No clue why I remember the license plate. I do remember the burnt orange Hostess Ding Dong box with wheels Toyota passed off as a car at the dealership, though) COULD do a cookie, the concept of Dad doing a cookie was so outlandish that we would have peed our pants if he had done one.
He shocked us all. Suddenly Captain Safety started spinning circle after circle in the parking lot. We screamed with delight. It was the coolest moment of our lives. Hugh Barton, doing cookies in the snow at speeds we did not even think the little Corolla could do going straight, much less spinning.
I learned a lot about Dad that day. I had always known he was a good Dad, and silly as it sounds, that day moved him to being a great Dad. He knew the right moment to loosen up and it was awesome.