Monday, April 20, 2009

In Search of...a new set of tires

So I'm wondering how to turn a day that was largely spent on car tires into a profound metaphor for something or other. Here goes...

I arrived back in Nashville in time to find a flat on one of my already-past-their-prime tires. While waiting for AAA to arrive, I surveyed the deceased, thinking I would somehow be able to spot the culprit (a nail) that put an end to the gloriously harrowing rides I'd been experiencing lately on my nearly bald Geolanders. Those tires had gotten me around town...and back and forth from New York...and to Memphis once to visit Elvis, I mean Graceland. Yup, they'd stood me in good stead, if not good tread (feeble tire humor), and now they were about to be history.

It occurred to me that life (and tires) is all about perfect balance. Too much of one thing is no good and too little is no good. What will give us a smooth ride? What will make us feel every bump in the road? What will get us safely through a storm, and what will take us up a curvy mountain road? Do we go through life in so much of a hurry that we never stop and notice the scenery until we get a flat? Or do we pay attention and appreciate how it feels to move effortlessly over distances that only a few generations ago would have been impossible to cover?

I wonder about these things as I wait for my new tires. I wonder what journeys they will take me on, and if they will be happy ones. I wonder if my life can strike its own balance...between work and play... between joy and sorrow...between what I dream of and what is. Can my life be as easily re-aligned as my car? My thoughts are interrupted because the job is complete, and my ride home is smoother than I can ever remember it being.

I don't know exactly where these tires will take me...but I'm ready.

Thanks for stopping by. Please tell your friends.

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