Let's make a couple of things totally clear: I miss being able to drive to see the ocean any time I want. I miss seeing mountains so much that I think my heart will break from the pain. I miss palm trees. I miss cheap, good sushi. But I do NOT miss traffic jams!
I drive 30 miles each way to work. The trip takes me exactly 30 minutes and I only have to go though 2 traffic lights. And at one of those lights I can make a right turn on a red signal (which it's legal to do in Kansas, by the way).
But there are some days, like today, when I have to go into Kansas City for some reason. It's times like this that all hell breaks loose in my little brain. I turn into a white knuckled nervous wreck just thinking about driving in Overland Park (one of the Metro's many sprawling suburbs). Cars in every nook and cranny. Four lanes of moving death-on-four-wheels. My God! It's a nightmare!
Most of the time, when I go into KC outside of business hours, it's not too bad. Traffic keeps moving and I feel pretty confident that I'll survive if I can just stay in my lane and not think about the impending doom. But today I had to venture out during rush hour. And it was raining to boot!
I was just knew I was going to die!
But, as you can see, I didn't. I made it. Somehow my Los-Angeles trained driving brain kicked-in and I managed to keep myself alive. It's like there's this little part of me that still remembers how to do it. In my soul still lurks a Californian road warrior with nerves of steel.
I changed lanes.
I bobbed and weaved.
I drove at 65 miles an hour or more.
All the while shifting gears, and occasionally even moving my hand off the wheel to switch from one public radio station and another.
Lest you think, however, that the whole event made me believe that I might readily readapt to Californian traffic some day, let me put some of the rest of my journey into perspective.
When I got back to Lawrence I stopped at a simple 4-way stop -- only to see two opposing cars directly ahead of me have a T-bone crash. One person crept into the intersection without checking around carefully first -- my guess: Cell phone strike again!
About six miles from home I had to slow down when a 4-point buck decided to cross the road about 100 yards in front of me. Little bastard! It's mating season and the call of the wild just couldn't wait, I guess.
And in those next six miles before I turned into the driveway, I passed at least three skunks snuffling along the side of the road. They're getting ready to bed-down for the winter these days, and let me tell you: The roadsides are littered with their little stinky selves.
But I was mighty proud of myself: I'd managed to drive into the big city and live to tell about it. I survived heavy traffic.
I felt invigorated!
So brave!
So totally ... Californian.
If I could just have topped the whole day off with a delicious plate of sushi it would have been completely perfect.
Oh well. I guess I'll just have to settle for having had a totally empowering day instead of a perfect -- traffic free -- one.
Not too bad for a Kansan, huh?
About Me
- Terry
- I grew up in Pasadena, California, raised by two New Yorkers who moved to L.A. in the early 1960s. They raised me as part of a very close-knit jewish community and even after years of living away from there, I still consider myself very much a part of that community. For some reason, after I graduated from UC Santa Barbara I never seemed to make my way back there to live. I spent 8 years in graduate school -- 4 of them overseas. Until I moved to Kansas, I never really had a forever home. People always ask how I ended up here; and I often wonder that too. But Kansas is home now and I wouldn't have it any other way. My husband is here, my pets are here, my land and home are here, my job is here, (some of) my friends are here. It's a strange place for someone with my backround. So, what's life like in Kansas for this fish who occasionally feels outta water? I thought I'd use this blog to find out.
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