I wrote a story about it, and won a prize. My first accolade for writing about my life. \u201cAlaskan Road Rules\u201d, the eponymous story, talks about the wheels of a car.<\/p>\n
The car in the story lost one of its wheels. While in full motion.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve learned as a grown-up to have a greater respect for car tires.<\/p>\n
You see, cares have a lot of parts and are very sophisticated machines. But the simplest of all the parts that make up a care is the wheel. Maybe the oldest machine ever, these wheels are the only thing that is keeping the car on the road.<\/p>\n
Those four wheels are the only thing that touches the road. The rest of the car is only a concept, the potential for motion, without those four wheels.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another wheel, though. If I get into the driver\u2019s seat, I put my hands on the steering wheel. The steering wheel is the one *I* touch. I can sit in the car, put my hands on the wheel, and think about where I might want to go. Where I might NOT want to go.<\/p>\n
The possibilities are seemingly endless. Abstractly, I would like to think I am considering the places I want to go. In reality the dread of places I don\u2019t wish to visit occupy a lot of my thoughts.<\/p>\n
That mean former friend who said those things–or even the place where she said them\u2014don\u2019t want to go there.<\/p>\n
That place where that awful thing happened.<\/p>\n
That arena of humiliation.<\/p>\n
I think of those far more often than I would like to admit as I sit holding on to the steering wheel.<\/p>\n
Sitting and considering while in the driver\u2019s seat looks a lot like going somewhere.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not. It\u2019s not going anywhere.<\/p>\n
Thing is, even if I have to go somewhere I dread, moving those four wheels under the car is a lot different than sitting in the driver\u2019s seat. Every action has unique aspects.<\/p>\n
Sitting is sitting. Moving is a completely different experience.<\/p>\n
Doing the thing, engaging the rolling rubber tires, teaches me more than any thinking ever could.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wrote a story about it, and won a prize. My first accolade for writing about my life. \u201cAlaskan Road Rules\u201d, the eponymous story, talks about the wheels of a car. The car in the story lost one of its … Continue reading