Driving Home

I never imagined leaving the big city until I did. There was one problem, though: I had never driven that long by myself on a highway before. I was always the passenger princess or had someone to keep me entertained for the hours on the road.

“Listen to an audiobook,” suggested my husband. It was a good suggestion, other than the fact that I tend to fall asleep to audiobooks. Yeah, I know—how un-millennial of me. However, that sparked another idea in my head: podcasts… yay! I used to listen to them all the time when I had a long commute to work. So I downloaded a few, and I was ready to hit the road.

I had my bag all packed, and I had snacks ready to go in case hunger struck. At this point, I thought I had considered every possible scenario, but when I started to drive up the pass, it hit me: I had not checked the weather.

Snow drizzled in front of me, and the fog lifted into my field of view. I could not see five feet in front of me, and now the snow was coming down in piles.

“Take it slow,” I reminded myself.

I could see the red lights of the semi-truck in front of me. Breathe and make it through. Okay, he’s going slow, and I can go slow. If drivers have a problem with it, they can go around me.

“Whoa! Almost slipped there. Okay, give yourself a little more room between you and the truck,” I told myself out loud.

My ears popped from the change in air pressure. Driving back down the mountain, at least I could now see in front of me, and I had lived through it in one piece. Whew! No one was honking at me for going slow on the highway, so that was really nice.

The weather cleared up as I drove into the next town. The sun was shining, and luckily for me, the roads were dry. Then, as I drove through, the rain started spitting. This I could handle—it was minor, nothing huge.

And then I was almost falling asleep. Oh boy. I needed coffee.

Okay, I turned up the music and started singing loudly and off-key to keep myself awake. I stopped in the next town. I got out of the car and waited in the Starbucks line.

Oh my gosh, I am so tired.

I watched the baristas work quickly on everyone’s orders. They were passing each other left and right, and finally my mispronounced name was shouted.

Yes.

“Thanks so much! Take care, have a nice day!” I shouted over the noise of the orders and went back into my car holding my venti latte. I chugged half the iced coffee and immediately felt a lot better. The rain was pouring now. “Good thing I did not get out of the car then,” I thought to myself as I pulled out of the parking lot.

I got to the city centre and—pluck! pluck! pluck!—hail. I got hail. The hail pelted down on my car as I hit the highway. Luckily, the pieces were small, like pebbles from a childhood playground.

I continued driving, and eventually the hail died down as fast as it had come. Once again, I was back in the rain. Then it became a light spit, and once again the sun shone.

Traffic was heavy. Chevys were passing me left and right. I was not going to move now—I was behind a red Mazda 3, a good highway buddy to follow. They had a good following distance and were not going too fast or too slow. Perfect...Then I drove into Alberta, and I could feel the weight of my car shift—wind. Of course. Why not throw in some wind? I was really being tested.

I got to my uncle’s place, and I invited myself in for tea. He kept trying to feed me, as per the Polish protocol of hospitality. He had some dates and offered them to me. I ate some, and then he made me take some almonds. I saw the pineapples he was growing in his planters. Their leaves spread so wide that I could barely make it to the window. I heard the familiar ticking of the clock that used to sit in my parents’ house before it migrated here.

I drank another cup of tea, and then I was off on the highway once again.

Snow started to drizzle, and the wind picked up, threatening to toss me off the road. It’s fine. I drive an SUV, and I have good tires. I did wish for some extra weight, though.

I got to the small town of Diamond Valley, where half the cars had decided to pull over and wait out the snow. Nah, this was nothing compared to the pass, and I was only forty-five minutes away from my parents’ house. I got more gas, and off I went into the snowstorm. The roads were slippery, but I had enough control over my car that I felt safe.

I arrived in Calgary and regretted it instantly. The weather was cold, and the bad drivers were everywhere; Why did that Kia have its left signal on the whole time? Why was the Mercedes not using a signal at all? Sure, motorcycle, swerve in and out of lanes and then wonder why you are paralyzed in the hospital. That’s safe. Honda, stop drifting into my lane. Sheesh...I forgot how annoying it was to be in the city.

I thought I would feel like I was driving home, but that feeling never came. The familiar streets and houses felt unfamiliar now. Where were my mountains? Why was everything so spread out? Nothing was making sense. It was clear to me: this was no longer home, but a city I used to live in.