Driving Note

Driving has given me a newfound independence since I got my license in December 2023. I drive myself everywhere I need to go. When it comes to getting places, my parents would always be the ones to drive me everywhere. Now, with the ability to go myself, I pick up my keys and they make the familiar sound of all of my keychains bumping off of each other as I grab my bag and close the door behind me. When I get home from whatever small adventure I took myself on, I put my car in park and just listen to the music I put on that day. My car has speakers that envelop you in the sound of the music and you can get lost in each individual note of every song. Sitting by myself I realized that I relate to Whitman’s quote “Now I will do nothing but listen.” 

I know that when I leave the safety of my big orange car, the pressure that I feel will come crashing back down onto my head. As I step out and close the door, the beep from my locked doors reminds me that I have to step back into the real world. I’ll be heckled with a stream of questions about my day, and I have to start on the mountains of work that need to be completed. Even though I love spending time with my family and telling them about my day, being able to have a small space in the world only for me is something I didn’t realize I would need. In my car I’m able to sit in the presence of myself in silence, and enjoy my own company until I want to go inside. 

Being able to take myself anywhere I want with ease makes me a lot happier than I thought it would. I look at all of the other cars on the road and I wonder if they enjoy driving just as much as I do. Each car is its own little world and no one knows what it’s like for anyone else. I have to drive myself to and from my internship & the stables, so I spend a lot of time just being able to drive and take in the world around me. Watching the world move through the driver's seat of a car somehow feels so much different from the passenger seat. Instead of sitting back, you're watching and experiencing the world firsthand through a turn of the wheel or the speed of your tires.