Wide Open Spaces

I wonder what my life will be like when I don't commute anymore. It has to come someday. My new commute is 55 miles one way straight down 95 past the grand 'ole city of Philadelphia and it just ain't gonna last forever.

I try to get up at 5:00 so I can be on the road around 5:30. Getting on the road before 6:00 is essential to my sanity. Some days I get up a little late, some days I become distracted by some kind of behavior and/or cognative disorder and start putting away or washing dishes, cleaning countertops, or organizing stacks of mail and don't get out the door until 5:45. The closer to the 6 o'clock hour I leave, the more volume starts to pick up and traffic problems defeat the whole purpose of getting up so damn early in the first place.

Today I stayed in bed until almost 5:30. Jim and I were sleeping on an air mattress in the basement because we are banned from the upstairs during the hardwood floor refinishing project. For some reason, I thought this was reason enough to sleep in. I pulled out of the driveway at 5:52. Cutting it a little close for my liking. For some odd reason, there was absolutely NO traffic. Hardly another soul to be seen. Even the traffic reports were all commented on how trouble free the roadways were, essentially having nothing to say except, "guess you could've slept in this morning."

It was so barren that I started to be concerned that I had missed some kind of newsflash about an approaching natural diaster or terrorist threat. Is it Saturday? I am suppose to be at home? Seriously. The roads are never this free and clear during the 6am hour on a Friday unless it's Christmas. I really became alarmed when the paramedic in the passenger seat of the ambulance that was passing me slowed down and he just gawked and gawked. I'm certainly not wearing a skirt or looking dolled up at this point, so there's no real reason to stare unless he wondering why the hell I'm on the road in the first place.

Maybe all the Jews stayed in preparing for Yon Kippur. Maybe everyone drank too much last night and decided to work from home or take a 2 hour delay. Maybe the darkness is finally starting to push peple into early stage seasonal depression. I don't know what was going on. And I'm not really complaining... I'd certainly rather being cruising solo than surrounding by all the crazy loons forging toward the city. I just don't like so much confusion bouncing around in my head so early in the morning.