We drove down to CT today to celebrate my mom’s last birthday. I’ll have a separate post on that. This post is about passengering.

I’ve been driving to CT pretty much weekly. It’s a 2-hour drive one way, so I’m behind the wheel for 4 hours. Unless there is traffic and then I can be driving 5 or more hours in one day. John was able to join us on this trip and drove. It was awesome! I was able to look at what was on the side of the road and take silly pictures. I also got to watch Waze on my phone and alert him to things along the way.

I’ve posted before that John is not the most patient of drivers sometimes. Today he did pretty good and we were able to witness karma in action. An impatient driver in an SUV was tailgating us and flashing their lights. We were in the left lane and there were cars in the right lane. There was no place for us to move to. Eventually, we passed the car on our right and moved over, and the SUV sped past us. Moments later Waze pings and alerts us that there is a police officer ahead. And yes, it was accurate … we watched the cruiser pull out from the side of the road with its lights on … and stop the SUV that had sped past us. As we passed both John and I yelled “Karma!” at the same time not realizing we were each going to say it.

Not really karma-related, but ironic, is the conversation we had with my dad about alternative routes to get to my mom’s. Our GPS (vehicle, Google maps, and Waze) all told us to take a different route home – the route my dad suggested on 190.

So today was the second time in a week I was able to be a passenger, and not a driver, for a long trip. It was so relaxing to not be the driver for a change. All this driving, and passengering, is reminding me each time of how much I’ve come to dislike long drives. It’s not just hard on me, it’s difficult for the kids to be sitting still for so long. I’m not sure how we’ll fit all these trips in when school starts, we’ll just have to see how our schedules work out. But for now I’m enjoying the opportunities to be a passenger instead of a driver.