DRIVE

Anyone who knows me knows that I have Driving Issues. Which is odd, because I really like cars, and I am a decent driver. I just do not want to drive them on any highway, ever, and I am also not a big fan of merging. I need to know exactly, and I mean exactly, where I am going when driving, and furthermore need to do a test run half the time with another driver so I have a visual reference. I did not even get a license until I was 34, and spent at least a year quivering in fear anticipating driving even a few go-the-back-way blocks. But I have made some progress over the years, I really have. If given the out, I won't drive, but I do my thing most days and get the errands done, anyway.

But today, I had a revelation.

I was driving about 40-45mph down a long, slightly-curvy tree-lined road, which was not too busy. It was a perfect day, sunny with bright blue skies, about 80 degrees. I had the windows down and the sunroof open and the radio blasting away. My hair was blowing all around, not unpleasantly, and the sun felt wonderful on my face, and on my arms, one resting on the window, one on the wheel. It occurred to me that I was happy! While driving! A car! I was really digging the whole scene, man, and that was something I think I have never thought while driving. It was just fun, and I wish that the highway interchange had not come up so quickly to clog my zippy little groove with cars filled with suckers getting on the 405 North. I could've just kept going, singing along, enjoying the feel of the car hugging the curves in the road probably at a slightly too-fast rate of speed, all by myself in the car.

Instead, I had to make a determination on how not to get decimated by a semi as I turned left across traffic with no light. My judgment and timing were sound, I and my car lived, to maybe feel happy driving another day.

This was the song I was singing, while sometimes getting my windy hair off my lip glossed lips -- Spacehog's "In The Meantime":