DISTANCE IS RELATIVE

Sierra Vista is the size of town people complain about it taking more than 10 minutes to get to Target, and a 20 minute commute is a LONG one.




But I can very easily remember my hour and a half commute one-way to work daily while in the DC area.


Driving from Kalamazoo to Los Angeles was fairly easy.


Taking the family from Baltimore cross-country to Oregon wasn't much of a task.


And for several months, I was driving up to Tucson twice a week, and it just to be just a hop, skip and a jump.



Now I have to do it tomorrow -- and it does seem like an awfully long way now.

LET'S GET IN THE CAR AGAIN, SHALL WE?

I've driven quite a bit.

I began driving when I was around 12 - and no, it wasn't legal at all.


My first year of college was over 300 miles from where I grew up.

Then I moved about 2,000 miles more.

So I got accustomed to driving long distances

Some commutes to work were short - I even had a couple of jobs which I could walk to.


Some were pretty long; perhaps not in miles, but often over an hour driving time. D.C. especially was almost always guaranteed to be at least 45 minutes, even when it was less than 30 miles.



People who live near me do complain about having to drive 20 minutes to even get to the city limits of the nearest town.

And I admit to complaining to having to drive up to Tucson nowadays, which is only a bit more than 100 miles one-way.

But guess what.

Someone is going to do it for me tomorrow.

And I'm grateful.

BIG CITY

To someone from Los Angeles or New York, Tucson is a quaint little desert town.

That would have been me thirty-five years ago.

To someone from a place like Palominas, Arizona, Tucson is a noisy, crowded and unfriendly place.

And that was me today.

I drove my daughter up to see a pain specialist in Tucson, and took the big leap of signing up at Costco, so at least when I'm up there with her, I can stock up on paper towels and toilet paper.

And for someone from Los Angeles, it is ludicrous to feel intimidated by a town the size of Tucson.

But now, living on a dirt road, three miles off the highway, without streetlights, utility poles and/or traffic lights... I must admit I was actually uncomfortable with speeding cars, quick lane changes which are necessary, and what the hell is the difference between "I-10 - Phoenix", "I-10 - Tuscon" and "I-10 - Downtown Exits" and why do you have to choose one four times when all three of them end in EXACTLY the same place?!

Sorry - exhaust fumes have obviously clouded my thoughts.