Recently, my wife has been doing most of the driving and I have been relegated to the back seat of our van.
It is a very interactive experience whenever she takes the wheel. There will always be debate on how she tends to forget she is on high beam, her choice of gears and her penchant for honking the horn at almost anything on the road. It is because of these debates that we decided our next car will be an automatic.
But I have to admit that Cecille is a good driver who is also the “brave and the quick”. With the frustrating traffic and the gross lack of road courtesy, one has to be a brave when driving in and around Manila. She is “the quick”, which I believe is the offshoot of her being “the brave”, in instances like beating the rest of the world to that gap in traffic to get onto to the faster flowing lane. Carmella is very convinced Dad is the boring driver.
However, more than being scared, my new place in the car has opened for me a better perspective. From where I am I began to see more of the world. What used to be a blur now becomes a complete story.
I think this experience is akin to the pause one needs to take in life.
There is so much I have taken for granted and in the process, have also forgotten my gifts. Like the blur of the passing scenery, it took a move to the back for me to notice the events that I missed.
I would have not started this blog if not for a cousin who decided to share her “pause” with me. Well, it was kind of an expensive break, really. It took place in one fancy Italian restaurant in a very upscale part of town. The treat was overwhelming but the talk that followed over coffee was life changing. This Jedi finally met his Obi Wan.
I think I will stay back here for a while longer. The view is truly terrific!
“That’s an awesome looking building, love. It must be new. I never noticed it before”.
“No dear, it’s been there ages”.
There you go…..
