Of all the things I miss about being younger, number one will always be the ability to wear trashy heels without feeling mangled after an hour.
Number two is the confidence I used to have while driving.
Today I had to drive to work because all of the spots were full at the PATCO station. Free, metered, all full. Probably because it was raining and “The Cheaps” who park two blocks away for free along the neighborhood streets didn’t want to walk far. I’m cheap, but I don’t like getting wet, either. So I drove.
My drive to work takes about 20 minutes. I take a giant South Jersey road, I cross the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia. I’m briefly on the Vine Street Expressway. I make a right then a left at Spring Garden and for a butt-clenching price of $10, I have a place to park. It’s not hard.
But man when I’m on that bridge (especially when it’s raining) all I visualize is cars skidding and flipping across the bridge like an action movie. In reality, the drive is so congested that I never get to a speed where I’d be killed in a crash.*
I never, NEVER used to be nervous when driving. I’d have the windows down, music blasting, foot out the window** and I never had a doubt that I’d get to my destination in one piece.
Feh. Bah. Get offa my lawn.
*Keep your science to yourselves here, mmmkay?
**Kidding. Kind of. But I wore great shoes!
Yea,I just drove and picked up my Dad at Jefferson. Fun stuff. Glad I don’t have to do that everyday. With a Momma Van.
Been there, done that. Traffic in the Philadelphia area is the last thing I’ll ever miss. Every time I’m there visiting, I can’t believe how many people and cars are everywhere. But, even though I’ve been out of there for quite some time, I can still certainly flip the bird, cut folks off, tailgate like I’m drafting in a NASCAR race with the best (worst?) of ’em down there.
Should you ever come out to SoCal, I’ll gladly give you a taste of what we deal with daily. Then you’ll know why we are the way we are 🙂
I took a coworker home yesterday afternoon because we live in the same town. I prefaced it with “Hey, do you want a terrifying and anxiety-ridden ride home?”
He actually accepted. Brave soul.
Today I was back to my embryonic (as in dark, moist, sticky) train ride.
Mad: Hope your dad’s okay. :/
Alex: Welcome to Philadelphia, the city that flips you off back.
Dave: We drove around SoCal back in 2005 with a rented PT Cruiser while on vacation. “Hey, it’s a 3 lane highway..I can deal with that. WTF? They just merged in 3 lanes on each side and now I’m in the middle of a nine lane highway! And my exit lanes are lanes 1, 3 or 5?” We were in perma-scream mode the entire time.
Ha! I totally commiserate. Back in the day, I took the curves way too fast and got a thrill out of pushing that limit. 18 = immortal.
Today? HOLY SMOKES WHERE DID ALL THESE IDIOTS COME FROM!? I still drive confidently… but dang its not fun any more. Everyone around me is (in my mind) the most incompetent driver and I want them no where near me. I regularly lament, “I miss when driving was fun…”