driving

so my latest addiction (aside from Dunk'n coffee which is way cheaper than Starbucks and far less pretentious)- Driving.

I know. its weird. This summer I felt like if I never sat in a car again my life would be perfect. That was probably because of the 100 degree, sticky Bama summer and my less than perfect AC. But I was so tired of passing by strip malls, endless littered highways, and the same damn pine trees. So then I go to college, where I have no car. I usually use public transportation to get around or occassionally hitch a ride with my roommate. But this thing happened this semester where I just can't wait to get behind a wheel. I mean, i think it started when I drove for a ZA event. Despite the nasty New England weather and the fact I was driving a mammoth Toyota 4-Runner (which for a girl thats 5'1 is like a fish driving a bicycle), I was so blissfully happy. Somehow driving on the Mass turnpike away from Wellesley and into the skyscrapers and river of Boston became the equivalent of christmas morning for me despite ice, rain, multiple tolls, and Boston drivers honking at my every movement.

So after that little trip, I found every excuse to borrow cars and drive anywhere. I even woke up at 6 on a thursday morning to take a friend to the airport and drive her car back. She said she would pay me in wine but really just being able to roll down the windows and listen to oldies was enough payment. Then, a few days ago, I drove to the grocery store to buy food for a ZA event and i drove to campus. Or I should say that i drove there and went right past my house and straight to the other edge of campus. took a left. tuned the radio to 103.3 and cruised by the beautiful president's house on the lake, then the massive estate, cattle, barns, the riding rings and horses. I soon got to this little part of Natick that is the quintessestial New England town. A little cemetary with revolutionary war-era graves and grave markers, a white-steepled, wooden congregational church, hugged by little patched of grass. The little town probably has three buisness establishments, one of which is the Charles River coffee house where I first was annoyed that they only took cash and I now I smile when they reject my debit. And across from all this, you might even miss it, is the powerful charles river that forms a mini-waterfall at the point exactly across from the church. There is a little shaded rest area with trees, pine straw and a few tables. I've come here before with my dad and took some photos. He kept rushing me, I don't think he appreciated that it was the first time I had seen the river out of the context of downtown where it often becomes a mere after-thought to the Prudential tower, MIT and Harvard campuses, and of course Newbury and North End. In this part of Natick, the river looked naked but more recognizable like the ones back home. So I drove here. Parked a while. Took a few rights turns and was lost among the very different architecture of New england. At this point, the weather, houses and grass gratefully reflected my inner sentiments of being weathered and haggard by the winter and not quit thawed yet despite the new sunshine. I hate when the sunshine comes and you aren't ready for it yet. I mean, I'm not bipolar so how could God expect me to get over the harshness of winter so quickly with a random day of sunshine in April. Anyway, i finally get back to wellesley and slowly drag myself back to reality. But I can't wait until I get to drive away again....I never realized what a great stress relieving activity it can be with the right music or silence and scenery. So before you jump off a bridge, I recommend you find some keys, a car, a long winding road, with or without sunshine and some Keri Noble and Ray Charles.(unless that makes you too sad).