Day by Day on Highway 169

Today, while scrolling through my feed, I came across this quote: “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different?” Hold that thought for a moment and stay with me—it’ll make sense soon, especially if you pause and reflect.
This is exactly how I feel every day when I drive to work. I take the same route Monday through Friday, defying GPS, which most days shows the fastest way. But the stubborn, reluctant me still sticks to my path, even if it adds a few minutes. I don’t have a definite answer for why—I just do things my way.

Every morning, I start off talking to my mom—a catch-up I hate to miss. But there’s something about getting close to 169 that thrills me. Maybe it’s the straight 4.5 miles one way, or the feeling of knowing where traffic peaks and where it slows. It’s the mental visualization of the familiar.

This road has become my thinking space. In the mornings, I’m rowdy and alive on calls with Mom. Later in the day, driving back, the spiritual me takes over, I play songs that heal and uplift. Talk about switching personalities all on the same day.

Looking back over the past eight months of driving this stretch, I’ve witnessed crashes in winter, a couple of spin-offs I personally experienced, vehicles being towed, the occasional animal carcass on the side of the road ,cars pulled over by cops, and a few incidents I missed. Well, yeah, my observational skills have sharpened, and I credit myself for that.

I pause to think of the countless people who drive on this highway and a million others; for different reasons. Our destinations may vary, but somehow, our paths intersect.

How much has changed inside me and around me, looking back from day one, when GPS screamed instructions and I still missed a left at a fork, doing a roundabout to reach the office—to today, when I could drive blindfolded (not literally). From fall to spring, the surroundings have shifted, even the air feels different. And the person I was then—so much has changed, through learning and experience.

Oh, I must mention: this is a highway I once dreaded, years ago, purely because of heavy traffic. Today, being here, on the very spot I once feared, reminds me—life has a way of reaching you. Do the thing you fear the most.

So yeah, the road looks the same but I’ve changed. I’ll keep traveling 169, North and South until life takes me elsewhere. Where? Only time will tell.