City Life

I have an entire post written on being in DC, the proverbial country mouse in the big city, but it will have to wait as I am having a hard time downloading. Long story. Don't ask.

First, on a positive note, big cities are wonderfully fantastic for all the myriad things there are to do. My list of places to go and things to see with my three boys is extensive. On the flip side, the traffic is insanity. I'm a mess just knowing I have to get on their freeways. If I lived in a big city such as Atlanta, every time I had to go grocery shopping, I would look at my husband and say, "Wait! I need a valium first!" There is no doubt in my mind that if I lived in a big city, I would have to be on some sort of happy drug.

I spent a few days last week in DC. I was met there by my best friend from college, a man I have not seen in eight years. (Thank God for e-mail and telephones.) We had a wonderful time as he picked me up every evening from my meetings and we did the tourist thing, seeing all the monuments and doing dinner. The traffic in DC is hellacious. For me, it was white knuckle, deep breath, zen out type driving. Luckily, my driver happens to be a former Navy pilot, so driving both aggressively and defensively seemed to come second nature to him. At one point he looked over at me and said, "Hey! I can take the Metro to work tomorrow. Do you want my car?" I looked at him like he had three heads. I thanked him profusely and told him there was no need. In my head I was thinking, "I would rather walk, with shoes 2 sizes too small, and a torn achilles tendon, than drive in DC."

So here I am now in Atlanta, driving my kids all over creation, taking a lot of deep breaths. Praying. I have come to the conclusion that the depth of my religiousness is directly proportionate to the big city through which I am having to drive. The bigger the city I am driving in, the more I pray. The rate I'm going, if I stay just one more week, someone may actually see me in a church!