This past weekend, I went home because I simply wasn’t feeling great physically. My head hurt, I was tired, and I just needed a reset in the place where I knew I could just lie down and truly do nothing but binge a show or snuggle up with my dogs.
However, driving back on Sunday, I realized how beautiful the route is.
All the fall colors, the leaves falling, the slight breeze, and the smell of the crisp air.
I was in a Noah Kahan mood, which honestly just set the scene even more.
My windows down, listening to the saddest songs and driving along the highway.
But there’s just something so freeing about it, something so liberating about not having to think about the assignment that’s due the next day or all the upcoming dates for clubs I have to remember. All I have to do is worry about staying on my side of the road and taking the right exit.
But with that also comes being alone with my own thoughts, which normally causes me to get upset. But this time, it didn’t feel like that. It felt good. All the things I normally think about on the way back to school just flew over my head. I just enjoyed the 35-minute drive, listened to my music, and thought about how blessed I am to be able to drive in a nice car back to a college I get the privilege to attend.
With everything that is going on in the world, I could never be more grateful to be in the position I am and be able to experience things that not a lot of other people can say.
Even driving through the foliage is a privilege I don’t ever want to take for granted. Being able to see the world around me as I do something as simple as driving just makes everything else seem to pause.
But soon the leaves will all be gone, the trees will look dead, and that small window of peace will whittle away. So, for the time being, I am going to soak all of it in and enjoy the quiet that I get to experience in the late months of the year.
It may be a short time, but it’s one that I look forward to.
It’s one that allows me to feel the silence, even when everything else feels so loud.