I enjoy getting behind the wheel of our family car and just driving. It’s nice when there is a definite destination, but the best fun is going somewhere you’ve never been. . . and actually getting there. I don’t have GPS in my older Volvo, so I rely mainly on a good road map and my pocket-size book of street directions. My tiny book of street directions works on streets that existed in 1997; after that, all bets are off and a detailed but current road map works.

Hubby doesn’t like aimless driving. He wants to know where we’re going. He doesn’t want to hear “Oops,” ( when I made a left turn instead of a right), “Damn,” “Phooey”, or “Yikes” (when the paved road became a dirt road with a big hole), while searching for our destination. Sometimes we are provided with street directions supplemented by landmarks. I guess that makes me a visual person who seeks the gas-station on the left or an old derelict building on the right, before I notice that’s the street I should turn onto. Being the wise man that he is and married to me as long as he has, Hubby usually opts out of any destination that we have to search for, unless I can drive directly from Point A to Point B without any detours.  In other words, I’m totally on my own, armed with my old book of street directions and my big, fat up-to-date road map.

Usually, I know what general direction I want to explore and approximately how far I have to drive. When I was writing for the local magazine and had to do interviews in places I was vaguely aware of, I always did test drives the day before. That way, on the actual day of the interview, I would appear on time, relaxed and looking forward to a fascinating hour. I wouldn’t be wearing my frazzled look—that’s the same look I get when I’m deprived of my caffeine and/or dark chocolates.

Victoria has numerous places to drive and eventually you arrive at some destination. I’ve discovered that you can’t really get lost because, even though housing and shopping developments have extended far beyond city limits—eventually, everything circles back. There may be numerous  new roads, streets and avenues, but they all connect to a major street, road or avenue, that in turn, connects to a major highway.

It got me thinking how Life can be a series of destinations too. We’re all driving along, stopping here and there; occasionally detouring onto some tiny road that’s not even on the map, but eventually returning to the main highway. We all hit speed-bumps and we do extricate ourselves from the occasional pot-holes—some much bigger than others. Sometimes, too many pot-holes can be the bane of our existence, but we are all determined to get to wherever we were going. After all, we humans can be tenacious as well as strong-minded. No matter what, Life moves along and so do we.

For me, as long as there is a decent eating place, coffee bar and/or bakery in the maze of unfamiliar streets, there are people. I know where I’m going, I’m doing okay and I’m not lost.