I know how weird this sounds. I mean, why would anyone write praising a part of a car? Better yet, how does someone even have an opinion over a passenger seat? But despite the skeptical look bestowed to me by my newspaper teacher when informing him the topic of my column this week, I wholeheartedly believe that we take advantage of our passenger seats.

Many of us overlook that simple seat made of high-strength materials and a piece of fabric connected to our car, but little did we know that we basically owe our entire childhood to this part of a car.

When I was younger, my parents would constantly cart my brother and I from Colorado to Texas because we had family that lived down here. A thirteen-hour-long road trip grows tiresome after the billionth time, however we had no idea that we were making tons of unforgettable experiences in the passenger seat. Like seeing my first snowfall or (kind of) driving by myself for the first time when my dad spilt coffee all over himself, allowing me to handle the steering wheel while he cleaned himself up. I learned my mom clenches her jaw when she’s really angry and that my brother chews his fingernails when he’s nervous.

I also got to know some of my closest friends by riding side by side with them in their car. Safely seated in the passenger seat next to them, we would laugh at the male joggers wearing too short of shorts or share the drama of our high school lives with each other. Now that I’m older and am able to drive, I get to share these experiences with my lower classmen friends too. In fact, I became friends with one of my closest pals because they asked me for a ride home once. Now I drive her around daily.

Even though some may argue that these adventures are not limited to only the passenger seat but the rest of the car too, I think that the best times are when you’re in shotgun, an open road in front of you and a potentially good friend by your side.

Whenever my parents still had the burden of driving me around, that would be our alone time together. They would ask the usual questions like “how was your day?” or “anything fun happen?” and we would catch up, but now that I can cruise around all by myself, I have realized that I overlooked these opportunities to be with my parents. Being the busy junior I am, I’m never really home and don’t have these opportunities with my mom and dad anymore.

So here’s to the passenger seat for letting me realize that sometimes it’s not always about the destination but the journey.