The road and the radio

I spend a lot of time in my Civic – just me, the road and the radio. While some of this time is spent belting out country tunes, I also tend to get lost in my thoughts. And it’s during this time on the open road when I often think of topics to write about on this blog. There’s a good chance I’ll forget the idea by the time I reach my destination, so I sometimes stop on the side of the road, grab my Post It notes and jot it down. Yes, I’m that girl you see parked on the side of the road frantically scribbling notes (I say frantically because there’s a good chance I’m already running late). No, I do not have car trouble (well, hopefully not – remember, I drive a Civic and Honda’s are like the Energizer bunny – they keep going and going…), but rather I’m trying to capture what I think is a great blog post idea. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that some of these ideas never see the light of day. Some of them are great ideas in my head but when the rubber hits the road they turn out to be not so great. But some of them do come to fruition.

Just this past weekend as I was once again driving back to the city from the farm (I seriously think I could drive that route blindfolded, but don’t worry, I won’t try that), I found myself thinking about this very blog post. The one I will attempt to articulate now. I think that as humans we get used to things being a certain way and doing things a certain way. Growing up in what many people would consider the middle-of-nowhere, meant we had to drive a fair distance to get anywhere. It was a 20-minute drive to the nearest town where my brothers and I went to school. This town also had the grocery store, post office, bank, etc. (It was a town of approximately 500 people). And my childhood friends did not live within walking distance. This meant you had to rely on parents and older siblings to drive you around or drive yourself even if you didn’t have your drivers lesson (yes, most country kids are behind the wheel before they’re of age). I quickly became used to driving distances to get anywhere. So to me it’s not a big deal to drive two hours from the family farm to my place in Winnipeg. But to others that’s a long way to go. We like to joke in our family how it seems to be further for Winnipeggers to drive to our farm than it is for us to drive to Winnipeg. It’s a big deal for some of them to drive out for an occasion; meanwhile I make the trip on a regular basis. It’s all what you’re used to.

It sometimes feels like there’s only two seasons in Winnipeg: winter and construction. And of course this often leads to traffic delays. It pains me to waste precious time sitting in city traffic, slowly inching forward. In some cases, it’s not unusual to move only a few blocks in a matter of 20 minutes. Whereas in the country, I would have travelled about 24 kilometers in that same time. Perhaps this bothers me because I like to see significant progress on my journey. I was also not blessed with patience, which only compounds the situation! But regardless, it’s all what you’re used to.

I’ve decided that I’ll never get used to living in the city. I’ve lived in Winnipeg for eight years and I still struggle. As I’ve said before, you can’t take the country outta the girl. And you most likely can’t take the city outta the girl either.

Blogger’s Note: Those of you who are country music fans will recognize the title of this blog post as being the title of a Kenny Chesney song. If you have a few minutes, listen to it below. It’s a great song!