Around and Around We Go

Having lived here in the DC area for over 16 years, I have always thought that at some point, I would drive the entire way around the beltway in one session. Obviously, I have lived here long enough to have been the entire way around the beltway, but only in pieces—one exit to another—never the entire way in one session of driving. (I do know of people that have done it accidentally, but that’s just because they were tourists and missed their exit and were too afraid to get off at another exit.)

To me the idea of driving the 64 miles at one time would be very therapeutic. Now mind you, I have not had visions of doing this at anytime during the daylight hours, the traffic in DC is entirely too bad and I’m not a masochist. I’ve always thought that 3 a.m. would be a good time to drive it. I find driving to be a good time to collect my thoughts, work things through my head, and to be alone. (When you have kids, you are rarely alone.) I always thought I would do it after some major fight or break up with someone. I’ve had my share of break ups, but never one that lead me to drive the entire beltway. I suppose I am fortunate in that respect.

When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half ago, I made several trips back to my hometown to attend to my mother. Those five-hour drives were the first significant drives that I had made by myself since my children were born. It was liberating and lonely all at the same time. The first trip was to take my mother for her biopsy and it was while driving across the PA Turnpike that I first had time to think about the reality of my mother having cancer. I ended up calling a friend of mine who lost her mother to breast cancer. (Yes, I used the headset for my phone). She was kind and understanding and provided me with frank advice, which I really needed and valued. I still had a few hours of the drive to digest everything and really was able to be in the right place with everything in order to support my mother. The drive back to DC from the biopsy was also therapeutic in that although the cancer had been confirmed, I had that time in the car to get my head in the right place again before I returned to my husband and sons.

This post went in another direction than originally intended, but I think my point is still there somewhere. While I haven’t driven the beltway the whole way around, it’s good to know it’s there if I need it (and hopefully with very little overnight construction).