It’s been 3 weeks since I was out in the cat. I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been for a ride since a bunch of us got together in Ottawa for the day.
I’ve been trying to go for a ride since then – but it seems something always happens. Work has been insane and the few times the stress wore off long enough to go for a run, the skies would open and a cold rain would remind us that winter is almost here.
Well, it all finally came together today around noon. My work pressure subsided, the big deadlines arrived, materials were delivered, clients were happy (for now) and the weight of the world fell off my shoulders.
I started to breathe again. And suddenly the sun came out – completely contrary to the weather forecast which had been predicting showers all day.
I hadn’t been able to take care of normal stuff in weeks. With my pressure finally abating, I could finally start paying attention to the household chores again. And believe me, compared to trying to convince crazy clients what the difference is between good taste and bad, fixing shit around the house is like a holiday in the Caribbean.
Anyhow, my wife and I climbed into the SUV with a long ‘to do’ list. My wife was prodding me why were not taking the Pant out for a ride now that we finally could. I had a million excuses – the list, the stops, the traffic, the parking, all the stuff we have to pick up. Anyhow, off we went in the SUV only to realize we were missing something we had to return to one of the stores on our list of stops. We came home to get it – and it finally hit me.
“Leave the stuff,” I said. “We’re not doing anything but having fun.”
I opened the garage door, popped the front deck, spun the battery cutoff, grabbed the keys, climbed in and turned the key. The roar of the Cleveland symphony took me far away from work, lists, office, clients – everything.
My wife jumped in grinning and we growled out of the neighborhood. I was trying to explain to her how amazing the cat is. It’s something we all notice every time we start driving. How, as we just barely release the clutch pedal, the cat jumps forward ready to go. I think I explained it like this – “…imagine going for a run and you take a breath and your lungs suddenly expand to 5 times their normal sizes and you start running and with no effort at all your feet are flying, like you’re running downhill.” That’s what the cat feels like to me. It makes me realize the immense difference between a Pantera and anything else we drive. Unbelievable.
Anyhow, long story short, we blasted onto the expressway and skipped our way through traffic to the outskirts of the city. I stretched the Pantera’s legs as we wound through the gears. We passed Porches and F-Cars and try as we did, nobody really wanted to play.
We came upon a hot looking gold Viper, driven by a dude with a head rag and earrings. But he didn’t want to try us either. So we peeled off the highway and headed toward the quiet of the waterfront. We cruised along the lakeshore and stopped for a nice quiet breakfast. I parked the cat, illegally so I could keep an eye on her while we ate. As I was paying the bill my wife told me to get out there – a cop was jumping out of his cruiser.
As I ran out to tell him I was just leaving, he held up his camera. “Take your time,” he said. “I just wanted to take a few pictures.”
Some days thing go very right.
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