What drives my soul
In that moment, I had been granted the power to travel to any destination I desired. I had gained a freeing sense of independence. I had just been handed the car keys.
It is strange to think that something so easily taken for granted as a day-to-day necessity could bring me this amplitude of joy. After all, driving is merely a means of transportation, is it not? One must drive to work, to school, to the grocery store and to dentist appointments. Most often cars serve as aids to help us accomplish errands or other activities completed on a daily basis. And though driving is blandly defined as “the control and operation of a motor vehicle,” I personally find that it holds a great deal more meaning than credited.
Although it may not be the first notion that crosses the mind, driving is essentially leaving behind a trodden road and moving on towards new and different places. The idea that all one must do to explore unknown destinations is start the engine and drive is positively thrilling. To me, this reads as a beautiful freedom.
I drive a 1995 Toyota Camry Station Wagon, which to my dismay, still exudes the pungent odor that comes with its old age, that no odor free household odor eliminator was ever able to get rid of. Despite its nearly unresponsive brakes and tendency to scrape the ground if it should ever encounter a dip in the road, I could not ask for a better car. It is my own (and will be even more so after I shroud it with the pile of bumper stickers sitting on my desk) because of my love for its many idiosyncrasies. It does not judge, for it offers me comfort when I crave sympathy, safety when I am vulnerable, freedom when I feel trapped. The humming of the engine gives me peace, a sort of soothing lullaby as the world outside becomes a blur. A surge of wild invincibility heightens, consuming my entire being and eliminating all inhibitions, and I feel as though I were the liberated bird I have so often embodied in dreams.
Within the confines of my car on this mad and winding road, I have attained a kind of independence never experienced before. When I’m driving, I am free.