One place that I've always found peace has been in the car on a long drive. Well, I suppose technically that's not true. I had horrible motion sickness as a child and my parents would argue that cars were more of a torture vomit inducing device....but I digress. After the age of 6, cars were a place were I felt at home. I loved to read in cars, I'd lay my head down on the middle car seat rest and sleep with the breeze flowing through my hair. I loved the safe secure feeling of pulling into our driveway after a long trip and that sleepy knowledge that you had made it safe and sound as my dad gently pulled me from my seat and carried me into the house.
As I got older I continued to love to go on car trips. I traveled a lot for skating competitions, but beyond that I loved to travel and explore. When I met my husband I loved nothing better than climbing into his car and just going for a long drive, listening to music, talking about life, our dreams, hopes and plans for the future. I rarely felt safe with other people driving, I always preferred to be the one driving. With my now-husband, it was different. I felt safe. I never worried, never felt anything other than safe bubble that I thought was long gone. It was like the world didn't exist. It was just us hurtling through space.
One of my favorite trips was when we lived in Florida still. It was one of the last space shuttle launches and it was scheduled to go off at midnight. We lived about an hour and a half away and we decided what the heck, we can't miss this. So we loaded up our dogs and set off into the night to watch the launch. We found a great little park just opposite the launch site. We set up our chairs and cuddled up with the dogs while the entire park took on an air of excitement and anticipation. The launch did not disappoint. Just after midnight the space shuttle launched and it was amazing. It was like watching the sun rise in the middle of the night. I know I'll remember that site and feeling for the rest of my life. We didn't make it back home until nearly sunrise the next morning, but it was so worth it.
I miss the freedom to just get in the car and go. My body has become such an achy prison that I can't go for long in the car. Not to mention so many other things that are chaining me/us to this place. I miss that feeling of just hurtling through the dark with our lights casting out over the dark roads, leading us to a better place. I long to just get out of here. I was to get us to a better place. I miss that security of feeling like we had a destination we were going to and a sense that we would arrive in one piece safe and sound.
It's time to load up and lead. I just need to get a map and mark our destination.
Oh, don't carve me out, don't let your silly dreams
Fall in between the crack of the bed and the wall
~Bermuda Highway
My Morning Jacket
As I got older I continued to love to go on car trips. I traveled a lot for skating competitions, but beyond that I loved to travel and explore. When I met my husband I loved nothing better than climbing into his car and just going for a long drive, listening to music, talking about life, our dreams, hopes and plans for the future. I rarely felt safe with other people driving, I always preferred to be the one driving. With my now-husband, it was different. I felt safe. I never worried, never felt anything other than safe bubble that I thought was long gone. It was like the world didn't exist. It was just us hurtling through space.
One of my favorite trips was when we lived in Florida still. It was one of the last space shuttle launches and it was scheduled to go off at midnight. We lived about an hour and a half away and we decided what the heck, we can't miss this. So we loaded up our dogs and set off into the night to watch the launch. We found a great little park just opposite the launch site. We set up our chairs and cuddled up with the dogs while the entire park took on an air of excitement and anticipation. The launch did not disappoint. Just after midnight the space shuttle launched and it was amazing. It was like watching the sun rise in the middle of the night. I know I'll remember that site and feeling for the rest of my life. We didn't make it back home until nearly sunrise the next morning, but it was so worth it.
I miss the freedom to just get in the car and go. My body has become such an achy prison that I can't go for long in the car. Not to mention so many other things that are chaining me/us to this place. I miss that feeling of just hurtling through the dark with our lights casting out over the dark roads, leading us to a better place. I long to just get out of here. I was to get us to a better place. I miss that security of feeling like we had a destination we were going to and a sense that we would arrive in one piece safe and sound.
It's time to load up and lead. I just need to get a map and mark our destination.
Oh, don't carve me out, don't let your silly dreams
Fall in between the crack of the bed and the wall
~Bermuda Highway
My Morning Jacket
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