Travel Perspective

I love Back to School time -- mostly the new supplies for super cheap and the promise of cooler weather to come. Give me some new No. 2 pencils and a stack of notebook paper, and I will feel very happy. But BTS isn't all roses.

This week school started and the students are back ... with their cars. One of my FB friends, who happens to be a relative and live in Stillwater, wrote about students returning: "Like my Mom would say, 'I think they all bring 2 cars with them: 1 to drive and 1 to park!'" It definitely feels like it here in this college town.

Shawn and I only have the one car, but we both work on campus so carpooling is fine for now. Our usual 5-8 minute commute was more like 20 yesterday. (And I know some people would be thrilled with a 20 minute commute, so it's all relative.) Today we did a little better, partly because Tuesday classes start later and partly because we took a different route.

It reminds me of this blog post I read recently that had an image on it, and no matter what I try I can't find it (It was something I read via my Google Recommended Items, which don't seem to be searchable). I can find versions of it but not the image I remember. Anyway, the image was something like: You are not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic.

So all the time I sit in traffic on Highland trying to get home I try to remind myself that I am part of the reason why things are backed up. It doesn't always work.