Driving Instructions

Driving Instructions

There are lots of signs telling me what to do. Speed limit 55. Bridge freezes before road. 

Tappan Zee Bridge to the right. Deer Crossing. 

But no signs about my job interview. I've been interviewing lately how I imagine other people do online dating. Will this be the one? Will he she it they like me? Will it be hard? Can I do it? Will it last for life?

It's amazing how each state knows it's it's own state. It actually feels different when you cross the borders. Pennsylvania has the kind of green that has more yellow in it. New Jersey has more spaces between the trees. More trucks too. And New York has a higher sky to earth ratio.

There is one truck that I've been sharing the road with for miles. Mavis Custom Tires. The graphics are sort of a Dr. Seuss style. And backwards. You'd have to read them in a mirror to understand.

Long drives always remind me of my father who died this year. I guess my first long drives were with him at the helm. He drove a Toronado and my mother mostly drove a station wagon but once he brought home a used Mercedes for her.

It was the 1970's. It was gorgeous. Grey sedan with worn leather seats. At least I think they were. Though I might be lying. They may have been tan. But the nice kind of tan. It was a convertible. My older sister could drive and in the summer she would offer to take me and our youngest sister for a ride over the mountain. 

We would scramble into the back seat, shorts over our bathing suits, my navy blue one w the gold buckles at the shoulders, bare feet and tangled hair.

I don't know if my sisters share that memory, but I don't want to find out. I don't want it ruined.

One day we didn't have that car anymore. It was expensive to keep up our dad said. And there were complications for him with his business. But we didn't understand about that. 

July 2016