It’s been a driving day — not a Sunday-drive kind of driving day but a rush-to-the-dentist-then-run-errands kind of driving day.

It’s been the kind of driving day when I look longingly out the window as I zoom past side trails I’ve strolled, imagining what it would be like to be on them rather than behind the wheel of a car. 

I’ve smelled the pine needles, pushed a low-hanging branch out of my way, even felt the fine feathery tendrils of a spider web. 

But all the while I was really cruising down Main Street, Chain Bridge Road, the Beltway. I was in Fairfax and Vienna and Tysons Corner. Everywhere and nowhere, which is how it is when you’re driving. All the while racing to get home … so I can walk.