A Motion Sick Morning Drive to the Airport

I learned something today. I learned that I should never let my neighbor lady drive me anywhere. I have some motion sickness issues, and she has some crazy driver, get out of my way, never use a turn signal, go fast, hit the brakes, I said get out of my way, road rage issues. I suspected as much from a couple other drives I have taken with her, but now it is confirmed. She is not the worst driver in North Texas, but she is very lucky I had not eaten anything prior to getting into her nice car with it's pretty leather seats. I warned her on the way, and she heeded the warning, smart woman.

You may be thinking, "Well why the heck did you drive with her if you suspected she is a crazy driver?", good question. I asked myself that this morning on the way to the airport. You see, she asked me to take her to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport because she is about to become a new mother-in-law and needed to head out to North Carolina. I was going to drive her in my little SUV, by I'm low on gas and didn't feel like stopping to fill up. Contrary to what some of my California folks think, DFW Airport is not anywhere near my house, it's at least a 45 minute drive, and you have to drive with all the other crazy people in the Dallas area. This includes but is not limited to; the people talking on their cell phones or sending text messages at 80 mph, the delivery drivers going 90, the big rig drivers sitting in the fast lane doing 50 mph, the grandpa who can't see, and all the people late for work. It also means driving with the motorcyclist who apparently have death wishes because they zip in and out around cars at very high rates of speed and sometimes pop a wheelie just for kicks. I've even seen one guy who was on a major highway, doing about 70, and standing on his motorcycle. I've never wanted to see someone wreck before, but thanks to him, I can now say that some people really deserve it.

Back to my neighbor lady. My neighbor is nice to me, mostly. I can count on her to bring me soup if I'm sick, or watch my dog if I'm out of town, neighborly kinds of things. She also comes over to fix random things at my house and I still wouldn't know what a molly was if it were not for her. No, I'm not explaining what it is, you just have to take my word for it that I now know what one is used for. She loves to tell me all the things I should do to my house, yard or pool, and I love to ignore her, but in a way that she knows she is being ignored, so I can get under her skin. She tells me I need to fix this or that and I tell her to go on ahead and fix it herself if it bugs her that much. I found that she likes to run the show, but the thing is, so do I, so rather than butt heads, we make each other laugh by being jerks now and again. I never thought that I would get along with her so well. Anyway, my neighbor asked me to take her to the airport and to watch her big old Golden Retriever for a few days while she is away. I know she would do the same for me, so I agreed.

I should be thankful she didn't need to be at the airport until about 9:30 a.m., but that is still morning and I am not a morning person. I always wanted to be a morning person, I even tried forcing myself up early to start my day like all these bright, sunshiny people I know. I wanted to feel alive and ready to go at 7 a.m., maybe take a morning jog or run down to grab a peppermint mocha at Starbucks. That never really works out for me. I hated mornings all through school. I never really woke up and got my brain functioning until noon, which probably explains why I don't remember what I learned in all those morning classes! When I went to college, I tried to have at least 3 days a week with late starting classes so I could sleep in. When I got my first job, I volunteered for the night shift. Subsequently, almost every job I have had, I worked nights, and loved it. As a Police Officer, most of my years were spent on swing shift, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. or 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. (yes we worked 10 hour shifts). My last year as a Police Officer I finally had enough seniority on the department to get the very last spot on day shift. I didn't really want it, but I also didn't want to work swings for a particular Seargent, so I went ahead and took the spot. Our daily briefing started at 6:30 a.m., and from day one, I regretted my choice. Not to say it wasn't nice to be off work at 4:30 p.m. like a regular human being, but my body is absolutely not designed for early hours. Really, the two things that have not changed about me since I was a kid, are the fact that I get motion sick sometimes, and that I am not a morning person. At least I'm consistent, right? By the grace of God, we made it to the airport in plenty of time, and alive. As soon as I drove off in my neighbors car, I felt in control and at peace again, and more importantly, no more motion sickness!