Recently, Kevin and I caught the end of this classic Steve Martin movie on tv. It made me laugh as it always does. But now as a person who has been pounding the pavement a lot lately the stress of travel is not so very funny in real life. So as I reflect...
Trains: I don't like them. I might go so far as to say I am somewhat afraid of them. I still carry deep scares from the horrific Driver's Ed video combining a train, a school bus full of small children, and a reckless teenage driver in a most gruesome way. Needless to say I always stop and listen at all RR crossings. I need one of those stickers that are on the back of buses (this vehicle stops at all Railroad Crossings). Kevin has come to expect my slow, deliberate crossing, often with windows rolled down, over all the tracks I encounter. (Don't get me started on the crossing located at intersections... redlights...it is too much!) I have ridden trains and I like it when they take me to a fun place but I don't like to be around them. It is a pity I now live about 100 feet from the LOUDEST and busiest train track in the US. It seems like 100 trains a day go by... most at 3am in the morning. These trains I fear now haunt me even in my dreams...
Planes: I used to love them. I flew quite a bit as a child and yound adult and I always thought it was special, exciting, and adventurous. Now, by the time I actually get on a plane my nerves are so shot by the airport experience that I am threadbare and stressed. I take as much Dramamine as I dare and hope for the best. I am supposed to go to Korea this winter and I am already dreading the 22 hour flight... who have I become? Where is the girl with a backpack ready for adventure? At this point in my life a plane trip usually means I have to leave me family as I usually travel with work. This part I like the least. Perhaps if we all three took to the great blue skys together...
Automobiles: Anyone who knows me knows I love to drive. It has always been my American Dream. Car= Freedom. Good music, sunroof, and a destination (sometimes not) has always been my go to place for letting the stress of my world dissipate. In our little town of Wilmore there is not too many places to 'drive' unless you lap yourself-- that is not too fun. Currently living on a tight seminary budget there is no money to burn useless gas at a million dollars a gallon and my heightened greenness just makes me feel guilty. Now my driving typically consists of stressful trips to Atlanta rushing in an out of the state of Georgia over a much too full weekend.
What is left for the transportation challenged like me? Walking. I like walking. Besides, the pace of walking leaves times for the little details... blades of grass instead of patches of green, reflections of items for sale in small shop windows instead of exit signs, the color of the eyes of the people you pass instead of metal objects passing in space. Yes, walking will do....
