{"id":2653,"date":"2022-12-16T07:56:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T12:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/?p=2653"},"modified":"2024-02-01T15:38:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T20:38:54","slug":"the-long-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2022\/the-long-haul\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Haul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
For weeks, I\u2019d been on the receiving end of blaring horns. \u201cThat man just gave us the middle finger!\u201d my 7-year-old reported daily from the back seat. In this \u201cpost-COVID\u201d world, I was pretty sure drivers had lost their minds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t until I had an adult passenger in the car, my father, that I understood: Something\u2019s not right about my reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I waited patiently for the light to change green and then drove through the intersection, I heard those horns and noticed my father had adopted the posture he used when I was first learning to drive, right foot on the imaginary passenger side brake, one hand braced on the dashboard, the other grasping for support in the direction of the window. \u201cWhat color do you think that light is, Eleanor?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked up as we passed under it. It was red. How did it turn red so fast? It was green just a second ago! My father gently explained that I had stopped for the green light, which looked like a normal red light to me. Then, when it changed to red, I drove right on through, to the bewilderment and frustration of the drivers around me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was December 2021, three months into my long COVID journey. This was when I quit driving without an adult in the car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n