I’m betting that none of you are like me when it comes to planning getting to work in the morning.  I’m betting you don’t plan backwards to see how long it will take to do each morning task so that you can sleep in as looooonnnnnggggg as you can so you can race through your morning to leave at the exact moment you’ve estimated will get you to work at just the right time.  And I’m betting that you don’t take into account that little something that will throw that schedule completely off the tracks.  Like the first day of school.

At the end of the school year, I decided to try a new route to work because the old route meant sitting in lines of traffic for much longer than I should have to, and since I’m not willing to get up any earlier, I opted to try something new.  And it worked!  For the last few weeks of school it was like I had found the magic road, the one nobody knew about, the one that got me to work 10 minutes earlier than the other way.  It was the way I was excited to go this morning, the first day of school for everyone in the district.  

Now as a school employee, I am VERY aware of the perils of parents figuring out the new routines, teenage drivers driving themselves to school for the first time, kids on foot and on bikes who expect you to look out for them, not the other way around.  I think of these things and know I’m going to have to slow down a bit, but have found out, that the panic of all this “newness” makes people crazy and therefore, the race begins.

Following rules is my forte, so if it says 40 mph, that’s what I do.  I use my turn signals, I keep a healthy distance between myself and the brake tapper in front of me.  While I know writing this will probably jinx me, I have never had a ticket – I talked myself out of the one I would have had, and have never had an accident, other than with the short pole in the school parking lot I parked too close to.  I like my cute little bug and I want to keep it cute.  So I follow the rules, watching out for others who are in a race for their lives apparently to get their kids to school and/or themselves to work.  And the games begin.

Trying to figure out what the person across from you is going to do is one game.  No turn signal so are they going to go straight or turn?  Is the guy speeding past you in the right lane (usually an abnormally large black, white or red pick-up truck) going to slam on their brakes before they reach the person in front of them, or are they going to shimmy into the healthy space you’ve left between you and the car in front of you?  My favorite game is picking the one really obnoxious driver who keeps zipping between cars and changing lanes to get where they want to go faster and see how many times I catch up with them at red lights.  I take great satisfaction in this last game.

Driving to and from work, unless you leave home really early or leave work very late, can be really stressful, not because of my driving – I trust myself – but because it’s every man for themselves.  I’m a planner, I know how soon I need to think about getting over before I need to turn somewhere, I analyze traffic patterns, I pay attention to places people go to sit in long lines to get their expensive coffee and avoid them as much as possible.  Because the last thing we need is a stressed out parent taking their kids to school using a new routine, driving a pick-up truck, on caffeine.  

The way I see it, driving is an artform and transitions are everything.  I like trying to make my transitions as smooth as possible, like dancing when changing lanes, or turning corners, nothing sudden or too fast.  It’s fun to have that much control over a vehicle. It’s a challenge to keep just the right distance in front of me to the point where I don’t have to use my brakes. That’s a dad thing.  Oh, and not slam on the brakes but pay enough attention so that you can make a smooth stop with no bounce.  That I learned from my aunt.  And lastly, it’s important to not scare anyone who is riding with you.  I said I had never had an accident, but I’ve been in a few with others driving and sometimes I still get spooked when someone doesn’t keep the same distance I would or waits until the last minute to brake or switches lanes too fast.  It could be why I talk to drivers who can’t hear me.  I’m not crazy, really….

What if we all slowed down and took our time?  What if we got up 15 minutes earlier so that we weren’t stressed on the way to and from work or school?  This morning at a stop light, while others pulled out their cell phones, I watched a brown and a black squirrel chase each other on a fence.  I paid attention to the canopy of trees lining 27^th street.  I saw the pretty houses for sale on Randolph St.  We live in a lovely town with a lot of great things to see, great schools to take our kids to, great little coffee shops to take our time in, if we would stop racing around.  In the meantime, I’m going to try to do my part by driving the speed limit in the left lane and hoping the big pick-up trucks don’t try to squash my bug – like a bug.