Thursday, August 20th, 2009...8:12 am
#142: Don’t Be Afraid To Drive, Even If Your Car Is Old and Rusty, Your Key Is Broken, and You Think You’re Too Fat To Fit Behind The Wheel
I had one of those dreams last night like people have in the movies — you know, dreams that so perfectly symbolize everything they’re doing and feeling that they can only be made up.
But this one was real. In the dream, I came upon this old, rusty, leaf-filled Model T parked on a city street, facing (this is significant) toward the right. I wanted to drive it, needed to drive it, but it looked so broken down I was afraid it might not even go. So I enlisted the aid of a younger woman, a more able driver (I thought) to get it going.
I had the key to the car, but it was twisted, and then the key part broke clear off from the part you hold in your hand. To make matters more difficult, I was supposed to fit this broken key into a slot in a hat I was wearing — push it right into my brain, I mean.
Even when I managed to get the broken key in place, and to get the car started, I was afraid I wouldn’t fit behind the wheel (the younger, thinner woman did).
But then I just tried, and lo and behold I fit, and I got the car into gear and onto the street, and then the younger driver kind of disappeared, and I was flying. And I felt so happy that, despite being afraid everything was too old and rusty and broken and ill-fitting, I was able to take off.
Just like How Not To Act Old, on the NY Times Bestseller List for Week 2. I think there’s gotta be a motivational speech in here somewhere.
That was an awesome dream! You discovered “the key” to being younger and was able to fly (and got rid of that younger, skinnier illusion)! If you’re a Freudian, you could think of the Model T as your husband. (He doesn’t need a younger, thinner woman–you can drive him just fine!)
When I was younger, I had a dream that I was driving on the main street through Riverside, CA, which is lined with palm trees. As I drove faster and faster, I counted the trees. 1…2…3…4… My passenger said, “You’ll never make it to 50!” I always wondered if that meant I would die before I hit 50 years old–but I made it! Guess that was my hint to slow down if I wanted to make it to 50.
hmm…Great Dream. I feel so unenlightened. I’m still dreaming about forgetting the combination to my high school locker!
I think you’re right about having a motivational speech in the making. Age is as much about how old you FEEL as how old you actually are. The only thing that makes me feel old is realizing I’m more afraid to take risks. Thanks for the reminder not to be afraid to drive… the same way I did at 20.
i think you dreamed that the cash for clunker program is ending on monday even before it was announced.
I have nightmares sometimes that I have to drive upside down like on those Hot Wheels tracks my son used to play with. I told this to him and his friends at a restaurant in Wellfleet last week and they all laughed. What does this mean?
I recently dreamed I was driving, with my husband, the wrong direction up an exit ramp to a highway with all the cars coming right at me.
All of these Freudian driving dreams….I hate to even imagine…
make sure before you drive you pimp your ride! found some cool woodstock stuff here recently…cartatts.com
I need to get another car, but can’t decide. Any recommendations for a hownottoactold car?
Funny you should ask, Sara. In this as in so many other areas of life, I absolutely do have a recommendation. Get a car that looks like a regular old car, a VW or Nissan sedan maybe. No cartoon-y cars like VW Bugs or (the worst) PT Cruisers. No gas hog SUVs. No rich old people cars like Lexuses — Lexi? An efficient car that doesn’t call attention to itself or attempt to be “fun.”