Often, like flying through turbulence or bouncing on the waves in the ocean, life has its ups and downs. Even with the best planning, things happen in life that cause you just to need a ‘break’ or take a ‘pause’.
There are a lot of changes happening in our household these days. With these normal ups and downs, I have found sleep difficult at times. Work is non-stop and my ability to handle my job, the stress of it hasn’t been working out well. My son is soon to graduate and head off Parris Island. We should be moving by the end of the year and ….as you can see…lots of big things.
Recently, one of the gas pipelines for the east coast was hacked and people fled to the pumps because surely, the end is coming and we need gas! What we see is pretty much why we can’t have nice things and the reason we have laws, …we the people can be stupid. Gas purchase, like toilet paper, went through the roof and within hours Raleigh was out of gas. I work from home but Elizabeth doesn’t. With all that is going on, and not being able to sleep, it was 3 am, out the door in my PJ’s to look for gas.
I started her truck, turned on the heat, raised the fan speed to high, and started heading down the road using my divining rod (Prayer) to find gas. As I was traveling down those cool, damp dew-covered roads, with the blower motor on high I was taken back to my childhood unexpectedly.
For some reason, I think better when I drive. The sound of the tires contract with the road brings me rhythmic comfort from their agreement. It Always has…but the blower motor of the heating system really changed time in a flash. I was a little kid, before seat belts were mandatory, coming back from church with my Dad, on a cold night. From time to time, our family ended up going in two different vehicles and we would split up on the way home. My dad’s car, which down the road would become mine, was an old 1964 Nova. Then…just a plain old car…today…a collector’s item. 
We walked out of the church to be greeted by the chilly cold air only to rush to the car and find the still… cold air. A pump of the gas pedal and boom that little on barrel carburetor fed gas to the six-cylinder engine and it fired right up. I was small enough at the time to curl up against the transmission hump directly under the blower motor on the front floorboard and within a few minutes, the cycling sound of the road, the whine of the transmission gears, and the sound of the blower motor blowing warm air over my chilled, now goosed bumped body, would just knock me out.
The church was only about 15 minutes away but as a kid, it seemed like a LONG drive. I would be asleep sometimes by the time we rolled up on 4215 Pennydale drive.
I never knew, that over 40 years later, those sounds, those emotions would resonate still today. The comfort of knowing my dad was driving, (someone else in control whom I trusted), the rhythmic sound of the road with a heater on high was placing something in me that years later, as I roll down the dark, damp chilled roads looking for gas, the comfort of my dad and those sounds would come…not roaring for this wasn’t loud, it was a gentle reminder of why I get such comfort from driving down the road…even at 3 am, looking for gas.
Peace on your journey this Week.
Jeff
