Try Getting in Your Car and Just Driving
by Ms. Babble on September 21, 2009
in My Life in General
I got in my car this evening without the intention of going to any particular place. I guess all day I had a general idea of things I might need to get done like pick up some turkey meat for lunches this week or drop off a piece of mail that needed sending. But other than that, there was a moment today when I was sitting at my desk diligently working at my computer and the next thing I knew I was behind the wheel of my car zooming past corn fields and avoiding road kill in rural Illinois.
It’s strange how the body sometimes clicks into a decision without necessarily getting the go ahead from your mind first. If was born in a less mechanically inclined century, I would have been on foot in that moment marching like a zombie towards a sun setting in the west while farmers were being dragged by their oxen in the fields next to me.
Fortunately, we have the luxury of crawling behind a steering wheel that services more as a floating cloud than anything else in these moments. A CFC emitting magic carpet.
This relief of vehicular mobility didn’t come to me until I was 40 minutes north and the reality of my movement finally hit me.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the hometown of my college at a bookstore staring at the front cover of a David Sedaris book.
It really was the strangest thing getting up from my desk, putting on my shoes, driving 40 minutes, parking at a bookstore, walking directly to the Fiction section, picking up a book and staring at the face of David Sedaris who was taunting me with his mushy black and white tongue (at least I imagine that it’s him).
I shook my head when I thought about driving all that way just to pick up that particular book. I asked myself, “Does David Sedaris really deserve that kind of attention?”. It seemed completely appropriate that he was sticking his tongue out at me and if anything I should thank Mr. Sedaris for knocking some sense back into me.
And from there I remembered that I needed to look into a good ASP.NET tutorial book. How convenient that I was already in a bookstore? After I finished my research, I drove home with my head a little less in the clouds.
There isn’t a conclusion to this blog post but I hoped you enjoyed it regardless. A day in the life of Jami.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Related posts:
Best vacation I have had? Your Uncle Scott taking me on our trip last Fall, after Heather left for college, right at the time when he knew I would start missing her. We drove almost all the way around Lake Michigan, staying as close to the lake as possible instead of taking all the highways. (We skipped the Indiana part thanks to the Cubs playing a game against the Astros in Milwaukee due to the hurricane in Texas.) We took a ferry across the lake then drove the rest of the way, making stops in a few places to stay. Just driving, seeing the scenery, with good conversation and the Ipod playing some good music. Sometimes a good drive gives you the chance to clear your mind, mull over some thoughts and ideas. With the kids, a good ride in the car was always when we would have the best conversations. No distractions, just each other. It’s why I actually enjoy driving them to school, work, etc. And driving myself to Hoffman Estates weekly to volunteer is a great time for me to just think too.
Hi.. thats not David Sedaris. He looks much stranger than that, actually. And its a REALLY funny book.
It’s fun to imagine it to be him though.