Today my sister in law and I drove down to Newport Beach to meet our mom for lunch. We were celebrating her birthday. Before we left, we went on a run with Pamela. We did 4-4/12 miles. It was hot but it felt good to finish. I took a cool shower, primped, got gas and off we went. We hopped on the 101 to the 405. Guess what? TRAFFIC. There is nothing I dislike more in the world than traffic. You can no longer predict when it is a good time to drive in LA. It is frustrating and it makes my entire being tighten up.
My hubby and I used to love going to eat in West Hollywood. We hit all the popular spots. NO MORE. On a Saturday night it can take over an hour to get into town where it used to take 35 minutes. "Where is everybody going?" This must come out of my mouth every time I sit in the parking lot of the freeways. My in laws live in Marina Del Rey. No traffic...35-40 minutes. Traffic..1-1/2 hours. The traffic gives me a headache whether I am driving or am a a passenger. I try to leave us plenty of time, but trying to get us all out on time, well, it never happens.
Now I prefer stay in my bubble. I have a fifteen mile radius. I am content to eat around town..even though the places aren't swanky. I have resolved myself that "an outing" is 15-20 minutes to Malibu or Santa Monica. Sometimes I venture out to the outlets...30 minutes away...against the traffic I might add. I sometimes feel like I am an old fuddy duddy...I know that I am not..I just can't stand traffic.
I called my hubby to check in while driving to Newport. He was late to meet a client because the 101 in Hollywood was closed because of a shooting on the freeway. I wasn't even jarred. I told him to drive safe and be sure that you don't get hit by a stray bullet!! What have I become. Desensitized. Traffic..a shooting on the freeway..welcome to LA!!!!
Why Listen to Wolffie? Because I get it. When we were living childless in New York..my hubby got tickets to see Billy Joel. We had passes and the works. I was so excited to see him. I had heard that he put on a great show. We even rented a car. My hubby being a jaded music exec at the time wasn't so thrilled to drive to Shea Stadium in the Bronx. I was gung ho. His mom was in town. It was going to be a great evening. I thought we should have left around 4:00. He thought it better to leave at 5:30ish. Getting out of Manhattan on a Friday? Hmmm. Needless to say we left at 5:30ish, hit traffic all the way there. We missed the first act. I was fuming.If silence could kill...
We finally got there.. There was traffic going into the parking lot. It was at a standstill. I rolled down my window to faintly hear Billy Joel. We were never going to get into the stadium and see Billy.. We turned around. I was sooooooooooooooooo mad. My hubby felt bad. My mother in law probably wanted to crawl around of the car. The tension was thick. We got back to the city and had a nice meal. Twenty years later, I still haven't seen Billy Joel. I do have to deal with traffic.
Moral of this story..give yourself time.
Can you relate?
More will be revealed. Please come back for more.
Signing off until we meet again.
In Love and Peace,
Wolffie
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