Call to adventure?
Apr. 28th, 2006 09:36 amYesterday afternoon, I was driving away from work, towards perhaps dinner before a meeting, and I found myself on the highway and in the state of mind that makes me want to just keep on driving. It's a particular spell of the road, a voice inside my head that occasionally seizes my attention and says, "Hey you! Adventure, this way!"
Usually I can shut this voice up with no trouble at all. I'm pointed the wrong way, I tell it. I'm low on gas. I'm broke. There's a storm up the road. Sometimes though, like yesterday, it's more difficult, beccause those physical constraints don't apply. It was a beautiful day, I was headed north and vaguely west, the tank was full, and the bank account was flush with severance checks and tax returns.
I try to distract the voice, in these situations. Pull off, I tell myself. Get something to eat. Hey look, an exit. Don't you have to pee? If I can get out of the car, the drive to, well, drive, usually disengages. Then I am safe for a bit, maybe an hour or two. Then I distract myself again.
This happens all the time. I'm not trying to run away from anything, and I'm not running to anything either. Some days, I just want to drive for the joy of driving. There are all sorts of places I haven't been, and they're all down the road, somewhere.
But I am a responsible adult, and I have a job to go to, and meetings to attend, and classes to teach, and rituals to plan, and a family to be with, and so on and so forth, so I hardly ever actually go.
I want to, though, on a regular basis, and once the drive surfaces once, it usually recurs off and on for the next few days. So if you see me getting into a car this weekend, and I am by myself, remind me to go home, would you?
Also, completely unrelated to anything else, my sister has, for some reason, named her baby Landon. Landon Wayne. That poor kid has got his life cut out for him, no?
Usually I can shut this voice up with no trouble at all. I'm pointed the wrong way, I tell it. I'm low on gas. I'm broke. There's a storm up the road. Sometimes though, like yesterday, it's more difficult, beccause those physical constraints don't apply. It was a beautiful day, I was headed north and vaguely west, the tank was full, and the bank account was flush with severance checks and tax returns.
I try to distract the voice, in these situations. Pull off, I tell myself. Get something to eat. Hey look, an exit. Don't you have to pee? If I can get out of the car, the drive to, well, drive, usually disengages. Then I am safe for a bit, maybe an hour or two. Then I distract myself again.
This happens all the time. I'm not trying to run away from anything, and I'm not running to anything either. Some days, I just want to drive for the joy of driving. There are all sorts of places I haven't been, and they're all down the road, somewhere.
But I am a responsible adult, and I have a job to go to, and meetings to attend, and classes to teach, and rituals to plan, and a family to be with, and so on and so forth, so I hardly ever actually go.
I want to, though, on a regular basis, and once the drive surfaces once, it usually recurs off and on for the next few days. So if you see me getting into a car this weekend, and I am by myself, remind me to go home, would you?
Also, completely unrelated to anything else, my sister has, for some reason, named her baby Landon. Landon Wayne. That poor kid has got his life cut out for him, no?