Circle Rice

WARNING: Cheese alert. I’m sorry I must expose you to this, but I’m feeling rather cheesy and cliche today. My sister confirmed this when I had her read this prior to posting. I am trying to work on my writing (and believe me, it needs work) especially description. So this is my attempt at being creative today. Consider this enough cheese to fulfill your dairy requirement for the day.

It seems like whenever I’m on a long road trip, I start to think about how life is kind of like a highway.

Everyone can drive in the lane of their choice. Usually it’s the one you merge on to when you first enter the highway. You can stay in that first lane if you wish, but if you get stuck and start to feel like you’re not getting anywhere, just pass on the left.

There will always be those people who try to get in front of you or who just shouldn’t be there, but there is always a way to get around them. Even if it means you just stop the car until you make sure they are out of sight, and then take off.

Sometimes you find yourself driving along a deserted road and don’t see any cars around for miles. It can be so peaceful.  You can roll your window down and sing as loud as you want while feeling the warm wind blow into your ear, kiss your cheek and tousle your hair.  I feel sorry for those people that are scared to be alone. I think they miss out on having those moments.

Eventually, most of us start to get lonely and wish there was a least one other car there, driving along the road with us.

There are those times when you think you found the perfect partner. They have their cruise control set at exactly 71 mph and are the perfect length in front of you. Not too far, not too close. You’re both in the fast lane and no one is in front of you to slow you down. No one dares to pass. You drive along for 30 miles until for some reason you’ll never know, they decide to slow down and take an exit. And there you are, alone again, trying to find someone else to join you on the journey.

Sometimes when the lanes get so crowded, you just want to scream at everyone to get away from you. It’s frustrating and you wish for the days back when you had the road to yourself.  But, it’s times like these it’s most important you pay attention to your own driving. For you just may be the one who’s not doing it right.

We all make mistakes sometimes. I think I’ve been lucky to have had only a few collisions. Sometimes they were minor and just caused small dents or scratches. They eventually were fixed, or I just learned to not care about the small imperfections. I’ve had times when I’ve crashed and my car wasn’t hurt at all, but the other car was . I’ve never felt more guilty when I knew I was the one who caused someone else’s damage.

There was once a time though when I was totaled. I thought it was the worst day of my life and I didn’t want to drive again. But I made myself get back out there and I think I’m a better driver because of that.

If you get bored, you can always take an exit to try to lose the monotony. You may find nothing, but on occasion there are those moments you never forget. Kind of like finding the perfect gift for someone inside of an old truck stop in the corner near the restrooms under the tacky sign that says “souvenirs”. Those unusual surprises that if you didn’t take a chance, you may never have known what’s out there.

I’ve managed to take quite a few exits along the road. MANY of them caused me to lose precious time from my journey. But it seems like the exits I took when everyone thought I was craziest for turning off the highway turned out to be the ones that changed my drive into something more beautiful than I could ever imagine.

I pity those people who will never pass or take an exit because they are too afraid. They like to play it safe and only follow the map, thereby missing out on what it’s like to feel that rush of the unknown or that adventure that was back on the exit they just passed by.

Of course it is important to be careful when driving. But it’s more important to remember that between the “closed road” signs, endless construction, and potholes there is beauty.

There are fierce sunsets over wheat fields, blue skies with clouds hovering over a old farmhouse, funny billboards that make you burst out laughing, or maybe just a some pretty wild flowers in the middle of a dry patch of grass.

Be on the look out or you may miss them.