Southern Drivers

Driving to a meeting yesterday, I was unfortunate enough to be caught in a rain storm on the hwy. Normally, folks turn on the windshield wipers and maybe headlights (it was getting a bit dark anyway, so most had the lights on already). Here, in the Southeast, people take a different approach... everyone slams on the brakes, turns on the hazard flashers, and creeps at 15mph (no exaggeration). The flashing lights make it even more difficult to drive. So, a trip the normally takes me 20 mins, turned into a hair-pulling, torturous 45 min outing.

The correct way:
Turn on headlights
Turn on wipers
Slow to posted speed limit or 55mph
If you cannot drive at least 45mph, pull off the highway

Other things I've noticed about drivers in NC, SC, GA:
Insistance on driving in the furthest left lane - stay the f*** out of that lane unless you can drive at a faster speed and pull to the right when a car comes up behind you at a faster speed than that at which you are plodding along.
The bigger the vehicle = the bigger the pansy the driver is. MegaTundra SUVs and Hummers take the prize for this one. They are typically spotlessly clean, gas guzzling, and otherwise empty transporters of one person. And if it rains or, god forbid, snow a little, then forget it. These drivers act as though the tires on their useless vehicles are made of glass. Almost every one of them has also probably never hauled more than a gallon of milk and a briefcase. Turn your global warmer on wheels in for a reasonable car. You're not a trucker and you're not a four-wheeler in a desert race. You don't need that over-sized truck or SUV. It won't make you a bigger guy and it won't make you a bigger boobed woman. Trust me, it'll make you look like a moron with a dense, foggy mentality.

GA drivers at least drive at a reasonable speed, but they are the rudest in the South. SC drivers seem to be the dumbest. NC drivers seem to be dumb, yet with a sense of entitlement.

Trust me, there are northern drivers who need a smack in the head too. Notable states are: Ohio-dumb and fast lane drivers, New Jersey-must be kin to GA drivers only a much higher degree of rudeness and only know one speed-pedal mashed to the floor.

I feel better now getting that off my chest.

process

Recently, I was sitting at a bar with a friend and we were discussing suffering on a personal level, like death of someone close, and how people deal with it individually. He asked when my father died and I told him (January 7, 2001). He said, "Well that was six years ago. That's a long time." It felt like an insult to me for an instant, but then six years is a good chunck of time and I have come a long way from comatose to socially functional, at least to some extent. "Yeah." I say, "It's been a while but it seems like yesterday."

It's true, it does seem like yesterday when I think about it. The thing is, I realize now that I don't think about it constantly. There are several times during every day that I do think about my dad and replay the times we spent walking, talking, sharing our writing, just reading the paper together over coffee in silence. I miss it all. My friend's dad just died (of cancer) last week, so over the last few months I've relived my pain while trying to be a friend to him. I wonder whether it's easier with his father slowly fading away over months or with my father who died instantly from cardiac arrest. One might say that the mental preparation is easier or maybe the here one minute, gone the next is the easier because there's no suffering (at least by the person doing the dying).

I've thought about it a lot over the last couple weeks and still don't have an answer. This type of thought is something I'd typically discuss with my father.