Sunday Drives and Loose Ends
Past memories and present suggestions
As a child in both Britain and Canada, I remember when driving was an occasional treat. In the Isle of Man, we didn’t have a car, but Auntie Olive and Uncle Les would occasionally take us out in “Maggie.” For car enthusiasts, I wish I could remember what kind of car it was but that escapes me now. Then living in eastern Canada with our family intact for a few years, Daddy would take us on Sunday drives because he was gone most of the week and also because my mother didn't drive at the time. These memories are surfacing now because I find myself increasingly driving less and less because of macular degeneration and overall less confidence in my storied ability to drive anywhere. Having crossed the country twice on solo drives as a young woman, I have continued to love the freedom of the open road. And even navigating City traffic was a fun challenge when I lived in Brooklyn, NY, and visited Mum and her husband Jack upstate. Recently reading Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Substack brought it clearly into focus the adjustments we all have to make as we continue to be alive. His discussion of envy and perhaps schadenfreude is very compelling, and in some ways it may be preferable to have never been so fantastically good at something and then see others doing what you can no longer perform. Kareem’s wonderful writing should provide solace to anyone in despair over aging. Personally, I find joy in riding the bus instead of driving myself, although because service is very truncated on Sunday, I do sometimes take a storied “Sunday Drive.”
Meanwhile, loose ends on saving democracy. I previously recommended Heather Cox Richardson’s recent book, and now another hard cover book has surfaced from my collection.
Karen J. Greenberg’s extremely readable scholarly work is entitled Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump.
As a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations among many other hats that she wears, her take on the state of America is especially compelling. I was also thrilled to be able to find a You Tube interview in which she discusses at length her previous books. It is reassuring that so many brilliant minds are on the job.
And another loose end, I have recently found Garrison Keillor on Substack, and he has been posting some of his older radio talks which I find I had really missed. (No comment on history behind that.) As much as I love to read, I also enjoy just listening while I knit. And his voice is one our family used to enjoy so much. Since my hearing is also under some attack, I am grateful that I can enjoy his Writer’s Almanac again.
And a final shout out to Substacker David Pepper who has been named a Fellow to a much-needed bipartisan initiative of the Kettering Foundation. See his Stack for further details (in fact, I think I re-stacked it for your convenience). We can save democracy!
Aging and retirement bring with them the chance to spend your time dong the things you always wanted to do. Of course, by now, you can't do half of them any more.
"I can't run, but I can walk much faster than this," sang Paul Simon. Now, I ca'nt walk that fast anymore. But keep walking.
I think many would share your thrill of driving - particularly on the open road, and particularly in the USA or Australia where you can drive for a day only to cover about an inch on the map, and I feel for you when old age tends to nibble away at the things we can do. I now find driving at night a challenge and no longer feel the need to go at the maximum possible speed in daylight, so Dylan's poem chimes too. Not being sporting in any way, my only knowledge of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was his role in one of my all time favourite movies: Airplane. So I need to check him out too sometime. Problem with getting older is that it feels as though there is more and more to do and less and less time left to do it in!