What brought on this change? I mean, I used to be the girl who was so leaden on the accelerator pedal that I thought I was bionic in my right foot. I was the girl who could bust out the triple digits on the speedometer on I-95 and still sing all the words to "Hungry Like The Wolf" without missing a beat. Don't get me wrong, I can still never miss a beat to any Duran Duran tune, but these days I'm obeying the speed limit, using turn signals, and pissing off whoever is behind me, both with my bumper stickers and with my overly cautious driving.
So again, you may ask why. Not so obvious answer: I can't afford to pay a speeding ticket. Obvious answer: My kids are in the back seat. More obvious answer: Everyone else on the road is a jackass who could ram into us at any moment.
Seriously, every day I see an accident and they are all caused by an idiot being an asshat behind the wheel. My husband is one of these asshats. Now mind you, when he's got me and the kids in the car, he is a decent driver, but when he's alone he thinks he is Vin Diesel from "The Fast and the Furious" movies. Sure he's got the "Tuner Car" as those who soup up their cars to look and sound like spaceships say, but he doesn't have the Stunt Driver For the Movies experience needed to not kill yourself.
When he's late coming home from work (and his fingers are apparently broken since he hasn't called to let me know), my first thought is that his car has been reduced to pieces no bigger than a penny and he has gone to meet the Flying Spaghetti Monster in his noodly sauce laden ethereal palace.
So I've gone to the opposite extreme. I am sure the people passing my car expect to see an ancient driver who is a veteran of the Civil War, but much to their surprise, they are met with an aging red haired tattooed goth girl singing Duran Duran to her two kids in the back seat.
The fact of the matter is, I'm not going to drive like an idiot......anymore. Sure, I admit I used to, but I also used to go to bed at seven in the morning because I had been up all night partying at a club. Life is different now. I've got two extremely important pieces of cargo in the back seat who are worth more than any of Tutankhamen's priceless artifacts are worth. They're worth more than the Universe is infinite and if it takes me an extra five minutes to get down the road, then so be it.
So if you are stuck behind a black 2004 Toyota Corolla with an Obama sticker and Darwin fish on it, don't curse me out, shake your fist at me in the rearview, and ride up on my back bumper. Instead, pop in some "Hungry Like The Wolf", settle into the driver's seat, and relax. You'll get where you have to go, maybe five minutes later than you wanted to, but you'll get there safely and with Duran Duran in your head. You can't get any better than that.
3 comments:
As a fellow Miss Daisy driver, I am not bothered in the least by your obedience of posted traffic laws, I commend you for them! I have gotten some surprised looks from people who pass me on the road because they just HAVE to step on the gas and shoot past me so they can get to the next red light first. They expect a little old lady who can't see over the steering wheel, but instead they get a six-foot redhead jammed into a '93 Toyota Paseo! Yes, my car is that old.
I drive the same way. And never apologize for singing Duran Duran in your car.
On a side note, there are a lot of people that miss you on SU.
Deborah and I were just talking about you tonight and I got all misty-eyed.
: )
~Sita
(sitasaysgo)
I am so with you on that and I surely wish other people would drive this way too. I was in an accident on Valentine's Day, all due to some dumb ass being a distracted driver and thinking he could make a light when he couldn't. Thank god my precious cargo wasn't in the back when it happened. His idiotic self had both his children and his wife in the car, and I'd hardly even pulled into the intersection leaving plenty of room for him to swerve if he'd been paying any sort of attention to the fact that my bumper had just headed into the area where his car was soon to go.
Now when I drive I am cautious as ever, because no matter how good I am, you can never know when some idiot will screw things up.
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