For my Mama Kat prompt this week, I chose “A long drive,” a prompt which sent me down some primarily sad roads of memory….
1) The drive as part of the funeral procession for my sister-in-law, Ann, after she had died utterly unexpectedly at the age of 30.
2) The drive with my spouse from Tallahassee Memorial to our house after I had been released from the hospital, knowing I was going home to bed rest to let my son “incubate” more after a bout of premature labor, wondering if I should say out loud my fears that I had somehow caused this to happen, but not having the courage, words, or trust to do so.
Source: morgueFile
3) The drive from our house to my inlaws the morning we had to tell them that my brother in law Chuck had committed suicide. We had known since the prior evening. It was about 9 miles to the gas station where we were meeting Wayne’s sister, Mary, and another mile to their house. Every single mile felt like twenty.
4) The drive from my hometown to Tallahassee and back (about 2.5 hours each way) when I was home from New York City and had requested (demanded?) that my parents visit a therapist with me. One car, three people, miles and miles of silent tense questions.
5) Any drive when I am tired, need to use the bathroom, and the coffee/caffeine just doesn’t seem to be helping (maybe the coffee/caffeine item needs to precede the bathroom item!).
Have there been happy long drives? Maybe, but none come to mind. I get drowsy (as the driver or the passenger). I get restless. I get anxious about the potential for accidents. I need to pee.
Anyone want to join me on a road trip and help create some fun long-drive memories?
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Good one. It evoked memories.
Those are all so sad. I think for me, the longest drive was at least a happy one–as passenger I rode to visit my friend in Michigan from Cleveland with her mom and her cat in the car climbing around as she drove–pretty tense.
The longest drive I ever actually drove was driving down to Cincinnati with a friend to go to King’s Island, again from Cleveland. We stayed over night and came back the next day.
These were heart-breaking! You have experienced so much loss. Hugs to you.
I agree with Pajama. That is a very brave sharing post you have here.
You need a hug. And a donut and a coffee. I can always find a reason for coffee and a pastry, but you “need” one. And a long drive to Disney World or a sunny coast and forget the coffee grab one of those drinks with the little umbrellas 😉
That was very touching, and I am sorry you have had to go through all that.
Now, go with me on a road trip! I am fun! I will not allow you to go to sleep, but if you do, be warned that I will sing to the radio as soon as you go out. I drink a lot of diet coke when I drive, so I have to stop for pee breaks often. I find really cool, off-beat places to visit on the way. Hit me up and we’ll go 🙂
There is nothing worse when you are driving and sooo sleepy and can’t stop. Right next to that, is driving when you have to pee.
I hope your next drives will be fun happy ones with lots of rest stops!
Nothing worse than only remember bad drives, no matter how long or short they are. I hope you can make at least one happy memory for a long drive memory.
My longest drive was happy and sad – we moved away from our families to start a better (happier) life.
Stopping by from Mama Kat’s.
Those are really long drives.. lucky you survived through them.
I’m sure there were happy long drives. But you know time flys when you are having fun. Those drives probably seemed a lot faster than the really were.