Listening to anything from the Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine album is really dangerous for me while driving.
We drove to Alamosa today to meet my mom to pick up the kids and bring them home. My husband drove there (happily bopping along in his new car of which I am totally jealous as it has a plug in for my iPod Touch) and I drove home. We put the music on shuffle, the kids went to sleep and I just drove. And when NIN came on, I drove entirely too fast. I got flashed by a county sheriff outside of Alamosa actually. So then I slowed down. A little.
But while we were driving there, I got totally absorbed in the clouds and landscape. Southwestern Colorado can be a bit on the drab side. Which is why I have mostly ignored it on the many, many car trips we’ve taken through there on the way to my parents house in New Mexico. But today I just really looked and it’s actually really beautiful. Granted, it’s spring, so everything is super green and starting to bloom. But the rocks and mountains and plains desert is just really gorgeous. Also the sky was amazing today with layers upon layers of fluffy white clouds.
I almost always drive everywhere we go (chalk it up to a major control issue what with my mom losing half her leg as a passenger in her own car), so I hardly ever get to just watch the scenery go by. And it was a lovely opportunity to do that today. It almost felt like a luxury. To just disengage and let my eyes slide over the landscape taking in the colors and textures. Or take voyeuristic peeks inside of the farm and ranch houses as we passed through small towns. Instead of planning how to accomplish my ridiculously long and complicated to-do list. Or obsessing about our finances. Or thinking about my overall lack of patience when it comes to things like waiting for the job people to call me back.
All in all, it was a perfect way to end an extraordinarily busy week. Good music. Beauty. Driving. Perfect.
4 comments:
Pffft, city girl.
1) Most anyone from a rural area, and particularly most anyone from a rural area in Nebraska could tell you that so-called "drab" areas are very likely more beautiful for their subtlety and nuance--anyone can love the mountains, it takes real vision (and mindfulness) to love the prairie; 2) Farm and ranch houses are almost never found in towns; 3) I absolutely would not give you a hard time about any of this if I didn't think you would understand that I'm smiling and winking; 4) I dare you to figure out how to do with your writing what you did with your looking at the landscape.
<3sh
1) Thank you for the smiles, winks and not giving me shit about typos; 2) I miss the Nebraska prairies; 3) I dare you, Professor Huelle, to give me an assignment so that I can do with my writing what I did with the landscape.
;)
<3
I have absolutely no idea how to do that.
However, it seems to me that one of the keys is giving up control (not driving). There seems to be a difference (in what you described) between actively watching (driving) and allowing things to be presented to you (passengering).
So, let's maybe try this: Write some future post for this blog, adhering to all the rules you've set for yourself. Write it the way you would if you were going to post it right now. Don't worry about typos. Don't worry about it being "good" (whatever the f that means anyway). Then send it to me. Do not post it. I will tell you the next step after I receive it.
You've got a deal. Watch your inbox for something by week's end. :)
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