The first time Jenny drove the mail jeep, I think that it kind of freaked her out a little.

You drive on the right side of the car, of course, but I think that there was something else about it that bothered her a little.

I think that she didn’t feel like she was completely in control of the giant hunk of wheeled steel.

The steering is weird.

The thing about the mail Jeep is that it’s old…..and it’s been ridden hard and put up wet….and the steering gear has seen better days….and the steering is kind of….sloppy.

There’s quite a bit of play in the whole works.

You can turn the wheel an inch or so…maybe an inch and a half….before the car starts to turn or respond.

I’m used to it…all the constant corrections and expectations that things won’t be the way a normal car feels….but Jenny hadn’t driven it before….and the unpredictability of it all at 50 mph bothered her.

I was driving around today, thinking about that as I made my micro-adjustments, and I realized that my life is a lot like that.

From the outside, no one really pays me much attention as I move down the road.

I’m not so out of control that the people around me are bothered.

But….I’m always making adjustments…..trying to keep it all “between the fenceposts” as my Dad used to say.

All these adjustments….and the only thing that really matters is what happens on the outer edges of the adjustment.

All that matters is that you keep the rig on the road.

How you keep it on the road is something that only the driver knows.

My mail jeep is sloppy and noisy and prone to making me concerned about every new strange sound.

It’s what I know, though.

I drive 71.5 miles on a rural route every day…stopping about 500 times on my way to open mail boxes or to drive up driveways to deliver packages.

You work with what you know.

You make your adjustments until the next turn in the road….and you adjust again.

No great mystery that things get a little loose when they get older.

What’s so hard about getting used to veering towards control?

 

“till I gain control again” Emmylou Harris