Car windows

When I was 17 years old, I got a black, two-door Jeep Wrangler. It was the perfect car for me. I remember riding with the top down and doors off all the time – in the summer heat, in the rain, and until the temperatures got into the 20s. 

There are few things you can accessibly experience day-to-day that feel more liberating than the wind in your face as you drive, especially on a nice day. It’s magical, like you’ve finally broken through the force field of an otherwise sanitized life. 

Somewhere along the way, I stopped rolling my car windows down. I sold my Jeep, got married, had some babies. I don’t know, it just never crossed my mind to roll down the windows. Maybe it seemed too “teenager-y.”

One day recently, my daughter asked me to roll her window down while we listened to some music as we drove – she loves Elton John, Abba, and Queen right now, so we have some fun car rides. As I did, her face lit up and she started laughing as the wind whipped her curly brown hair around.

I rolled mine down, and it was like the past just hit me in the face. I had that feeling of freedom that I remembered from long ago. I’ve been rolling my windows down every chance I’ve had for the last few weeks.

As we get older, sometimes we give up sources of joy that seem small. But, in fact, those little rays of light in our life add and multiple and compound. Giving them up is a risk that I don’t think is worth taking. 

Now that I’ve reclaimed rolled down car windows, I’m on the hunt for other joys I left behind. Perhaps it’s time you do the same.