Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?
There are about 5 ways to go to and from town from my house. My favorite route is via Woods Gap Road. It’s a dusty dirt road, but often worth the trip. There’s a family of golden finch that live on Woods Gap, and I frequently spot mountain bluebirds or occasionally an indigo bunting there. I can’t help but feel happy when I have a “blue bird of happiness” sighting.
Because I drive on a country back road my car is usually dirty, particularly if it hasn’t rained in awhile. Whenever I go to Christiansburg for those items that are hard to come by in Floyd, my car stands out as the dirtiest one in any given parking lot. You know, the kind that people write messages on with their fingers…like “Wash Me.”
Occasionally while in Christiansburg, I’ll take their advice and go through the car wash, and for a few days after that, I take an alternative paved route to and from town. The paved road to town is about a mile longer than the Woods Gap way, but it helps to keep my car clean for at least a few days, until I revert back to my old habits.
This was the case a few days ago. I was making my way to town when I spotted a small silver car stopped in the middle of the road in front of me. As I got closer, I saw it was an elderly white haired woman with a tight curled perm. I pulled up around her slowly. I was convinced that she was in distress. Why else would she be stopped dead in the middle of the road?
To my shock, she was casually putting on her make-up. She waved at me pleasantly as she applied her mascara with no hint of an explanation and absolutely no remorse about being in the middle of the road.
Normally, I would be irritated to come upon such a strange stunt. It would have been so easy for her just to pull off to the side of the road. But I wasn’t irritated. I deferred to her seniority and went along with the whole thing as though she had every right to be stopped in the middle of the road putting on make-up because she believed she did.
Not only was I not irritated, but I was able to see the humor in the scene. I smiled and waved back at her, and as I was driving away it struck me that the woman’s behavior was only a few degrees away from something I would do. And then came this profound realization: That could totally be me someday.
Comments
Colleen you have me howling with laughter!
I'm having those moments more and more often these days.
Posted by: Lora | June 29, 2005 12:17 PM
I was inspired by your post to look up some of my road and street poems. This was the only one I happened to have in my documents on this computer. The one I was REALLY looking for, Diamond Knob Road, I'll have to dig out from it's floppy home and post later. But THIS poem has scrabble in it. So I guess that's ok.
India Street-
Is like buttermilk squash-
a narrow interpretation-
broader as it’s placed-
within a new context-
Because the roof had no coffee-
we made a dining room staging area-
frequent forays to fire -
escape garden oasis -
sprinkled with chairs-
statues-
wires-
A short walk home -
on a long day-
each crack in the sidewalk-
became our long -
paved welcome mat-
shrug off the city -
enter the cozy kind walls-
of the mottled Brooklyn building-
India Street-
is like buttermilk squash-
in the same way-
a playground is like an unfinished -
scrabble game-
There are not enough words.-
PS Because this does not preview in stanza form I used hyphens for line breaks...weird...
Posted by: Mara | June 29, 2005 12:18 PM
Woops.
Ignore the hyphens.
Posted by: Mara | June 29, 2005 12:19 PM
I came upon your blog by way of Fragments From Floyd. Living in a major city, I wish I could experience moments like that! I do believe that will be me in 50 years or so. (smile)
Posted by: Jess | June 29, 2005 12:48 PM
So glad you women "got it!" And Mara, you need a blog. I promise I would visit everyday...you could post a poem everyday!
Posted by: colleen | June 29, 2005 3:08 PM
RYC: I live in Atlanta and I found Fred's blog through his sister-in-law who's an age-old family friend. I'm an English major hoping to focus on ecological writing (Annie Dillard, Thoreau, Muir, the like) and his site is a fantastic inspiration and resource, as is yours! Thanks for the comment!
Posted by: Jess | June 29, 2005 3:57 PM
What, livejournal is not enough of blog for you, Colleen? Are you a...dare I say it...BLOG SNOB?
Posted by: Mara | June 29, 2005 4:17 PM
Yea...A BLOG SNOB!! just kidding xoxo
Posted by: Sherry | June 29, 2005 6:06 PM
That could be me too, although I only wear lipstick and it doesn't require me to stop the car to apply it.
Posted by: kenju | June 29, 2005 7:20 PM
That won't be me simply because I only put makeup on once a day...BEFORE I leave the house ;0) Have a good trip...I'm off tomorrow. I'll email you when I'm done with the J&D stories ..later gator!
Posted by: J&J's Mom | June 29, 2005 7:40 PM
I told my sister years ago that one of the reasons I was looking forward to old age is so that I could be called eccentric rather than just plain strange.
Posted by: terrilynn | June 30, 2005 8:48 AM