Thoughts on the way to work

Pizza dropped me off early today at the Cathedral. I took the opportunity to go get some breakfast and watch the world wake up. These are my observations.

- Crazy people are crazier in the morning.
- Meth tweakers tweak hardest in the morning when they're coming down.
- Coffee makes crazies and tweakers seem as if they are in their place in the world.
- Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOV) are way too abundant during the daily commute.
- SOV's seem to make up 75% of the morning gridlock.
- SOV's (SOBs?) don't like it when you walk faster along the street that they are driving down.
- Coffee makes SOV's disappear.
- The Cathedral is peaceful even with crazies and meth-heads tweaking in abundance.
- Cool, almost fall mornings require a coffee in hand.
- Mocha's from Arosa Coffee are the end all be all in mocha's. Period.

As I walked through the gridlocked SOV's (I repeat, SOBs) I realized how inappropriately cities make you act. The hustle and bustle is what drives commerce, yes, but it is also what drives tempers and blood pressures. Drivers (myself included) get frustrated with not moving forward, which is abundant in city driving. Not so in the farther reaches. This inability to move forward or make progress disables the everyday niceties that I would like to believe is in all people. Confused drivers make aggressive drivers angry; angry drivers make confused drivers apprehensive; apprehensive drivers make pedestrians nervous (what is that person going to do?).

All of this to say that perhaps city life is not for me. After a weekend in Whistler (granted Whistler is a city), I realized that the mountain life is really a strong pull. People are themselves in the mountains. They are not feeling pushed to go somewhere. Mountains make you want to stop and breathe and enjoy your surroundings, even if it's a view of some trees and a dirt road. Highways are transformed from office assembly lines into magical lines that weave peace and harmony into driving.

I hate driving in the city. I love driving in the mountains. What's the difference? I really couldn't find any for a long time. It is the same car, with the seat in the same position. My company is still my lovely wife. It took me until this trip to realize that it's the presence of 150 foot conifers and multi-thousand foot peaks that brings about my peace.

I'll be looking to the mountains more as we move farther away from downtown Seattle. The house gets listed today. |--<