Driving To and Fro

I'm not sure if I'm mentioned it on here, but I drive a lot. I basically have an hour commute each way to my living room. As a stay at home mom I have put more miles on vehicles than I did going to school or working a "regular" job. Most of the time I'm fine with it, though. After all, I chose to have this commute, twice.

See, the year we moved to Georgia was the year Jace started preschool. I found out before moving that Georgia has free, full-day pre-k and I was thrilled for Jace that he'd get so much academic attention...he was ready! In fact, we'd talked it up as part of the excitement of our cross-country relocation. So, when I found out that we'd missed the lottery for his chance to get into the local program I was bummed and so was he. Then someone told us that some day cares also had the same state sponsored pre-k as well. We found one, the closest one, half an hour away and - almost without hesitation - signed him up!

This year we faced a similar situation with Gracie. We didn't miss the lottery, but I didn't have an actual birth certificate for her...who knew? The day care Jace went to was full, but we got Gracie into a pre-k class at a different day care, also thirty minutes away.

I have felt that both times the decision was a good one. But, it does put me on the road a lot. And I see some crazy things out there. I've seen Superman walking his dog and a dog standing on the top of a truck cab...maybe he thought he was superman. (I know, I shouldn't joke about someone letting a dog ride on his vehicle like that, but...this is Georgia. At least he was going slow...around 20 MPH in a 55 MPH zone!)

Today I didn't see anything too insane as far as costumed pedestrians or anything like that. Maybe because it's unusual to have such a slow day for antics I was especially noticing the expressions of the people all around me. I found myself annoyed at the guy behind me who looked annoyed with me that I was waiting for a break in traffic before turning. I wondered what was going on in the car where the boy in the passenger's seat was looking out the window and the mom (?) driving looked determined to keep her hands on the steering wheel and her eyes facing forward. I felt a little bad for the woman looking left and right, waiting to turn left onto a very busy road at a very busy time of day. I was glad for her, though, that she didn't have anyone staring her down through her back window; she seemed tense enough without that!

While I was creating little stories in my head about the lives of the people I was driving past during my commute today I decided to smile. I'm sure I mostly have a rather relaxed, blank face when I'm going here and there. But today, if anyone was sneaking a peek into my mama taxi van they might wonder a little about me.

I was trying to look calm and content. Did anyone see me? Did I succeed?