Urban Nostalgia: August 2010

So I got up early today to get an oil change in my car. I went to the dealership which is out in STL county. The heat broke and the humidity is down so I had my windows open and was really feeling amazing with the cooler air rushing in the car and the wind cooling my face. I felt relaxed. I had an appointment, but I knew that there was no pressure riding on if I was at the oil change place exactly at 9am or not. So I didn't mind when I missed my exit and had to travel quite a ways down the highway until I found another exit to turn around.
I didn't mind because all of a sudden I was where there were no people, there were trees and trees and trees and green. It was this feeling like when you were a kid and had a doctors appointment during the day so you left school early, and you were never out in the rest of society at that time of day and it felt like you were doing something wrong. Like the world didn't exist between the hours of 9-4 because school was the only thing that could possibly be happening for the rest of the world too. (Or maybe I just had that feeling because whenever my mom would take me out of school and we would drive past a cop she would jokingly tell me to hide because I would be in trouble for not being in school. I always believed her.)

So I just stayed in the present. I listened to the sounds, the wind rushing past, the cars zooming by one another, the air. And I looked. I looked more than I look usually. I know that sounds weird, but I mean I payed attention. I got stopped on a bridge and saw the sun cut through the clouds over the water and it was like I had seen it for the very first time.

Typically my day is rush, rush, rush. I am stressed and in 'go' mode the entire day. This morning I allowed myself to just be. Just be. I even stopped to witness the amazing walking stick and it's shadow.

It was a different sort of morning...