100 Days of Happiness: #68 - off roading

Yesterday I had a terrible ride home. I left the office and the moment I left I had a stress attack... I got honked at, cut off and it all just got worse. So what did I do? called my sister. She's the best. And out of that chat, I was reminded of one of my most favorite memories and it makes me HAPPY to remember.

When I was a kid, we lived on Palatine Road. It was a windy dirt road that went up a pretty large hill. Right as the hill begins was our driveway. It was maybe a 1/3 mile lone and traversed like this:  UP a big hill, flat for about 800 feet, up another big hill and then you were at what I call the "landing" where we parked, pulled into the garage, whatever. THEN you'd have to walk up a flight of stairs to get into the house (the garage was under the house).

This is my memory: when mom had a car full of groceries or if she had a daughter on crutches, she would drive right off the driveway, up the hill to the field, through the field, drove through a narrow spot between trees, up to the level the house was on, across the front lawn and stopped smack in the middle of the front of the house. Given the terrain and the jeep we were driving in, it literally felt like we were off-roading... which we were.

I loved it. and I remember thinking my mom was so cool for choosing to off-road it.