2.03.2010

Driving at the speed limit

I remember riding in the car with my mom as a teenager. We'd be going 60 mph. "Mom, go a little faster," I'd kindly request. Her response, "We are not in a hurry to get anywhere. Enjoy the ride."

Now that I am a mother, I find myself driving slower and slower. Not so slow that I'm under the speed limit (goodness, no), but just at the speed limit, in the right lane. In truth, I never thought I'd be here. I fancy myself an aware, focused, fast driver; picking the fastest lanes, making the smoothest of lane changes, and "ace-ing" traffic (or in other words, making up 2 minutes of time by getting in front of the slow Toyota Tercel and going through the yellow light).

But on those days when I'm "not in a hurry to get anywhere" and Oliver's fast asleep, I take it easy. And I enjoy the ride. I drive through neighborhoods and look at houses, or I check out the new park I've heard about. Occasionally, I catch myself thinking, "Get in front of that Acura TSL Ashley, he's crawling," or "speed up now if you want to get on the on-ramp before the slowbee," but then I remember I'm not in a rush and I let the foot off the gas pedal and cruise.

Jess says I've gotten a little lax in my driving, and I'd say it's the truth. Cruising is the opposite of how I've driven all my licensed life, but I now see the value of it. This isn't to say that I don't enjoy rushing downtown, weaving in and out of lanes, beating a Mustang off the line (hey, it's happened...maybe the Mustang wasn't really trying, but it's happened), and making it to a firm party just in time. But now I get where my mom was coming from and I can almost hear my kids in the future saying to me, "Mom, can we go a little faster please!"

4 comments:

jamesandlindsaylattin said...

Loved the post!

kel said...

once a graduate of the Johnson School of Finesse Driving, always a graduate. you're just making wise choices now with precious cargo on board.

jo said...

Don't worry ash, we all know you were trained by the founder if Istruction For Advanced Driving (IFAD), but like kel said, you were also trained by the best of Driving with Precious Cargo. You've got the best of both worlds.

Jess said...

A certain precious cargo named Oliver told me he felt the need for speed...just thought I would pass that along