Letting Go of the Steering Wheel

At Disneyland there is a ride that I rode as a child that still exists (though the cars a bit fancier) and is a kid favorite: Autopia. Auto+Utopia. Well, you get the idea. The deal about this ride, as you probably already know, is that you get to Drive a Car even though you aren't anywhere near old enough, tall enough, or skilled enough to do so in Real Life. This is, of course, because the cars are on a rail. Now in fact, even though there is a guide rail that keeps your car from landing in the Submarine ride (that's now the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage), you actually have a functioning steering wheel and some ability to accelerate (though there are some good size bumpers to keep you out of too much trouble). So there is more than just an illusion that you are actually Driving a Car. But if you let go of the steering wheel--no worries! You just veer a little bit and then (assuming your older brother doesn't grab the steering wheel for you) you are back more-or-less on track.

So today is my own personal "Let Go of the Steering Wheel" day. (And I'm making an assumption that my son won't try to grab it for me and steer.) It's only an illusion anyway that I'm actually Driving the Car.  (Though to be true to the Autopia analogy I do have some agency--a co-creator if you will!) So why not give myself a little break (goodness knows I could use a break from "driving")?  In fact, I think I'm going to make this entire week one about Letting Go of the Steering Wheel. Just relinquishing struggle, attachment, expectation, control. I recognize that it's a tall order. But my intention this week is really just to keep letting go, over and over. It can be so liberating not to hold on to story lines about all of the ways I have screwed up this past year, or month, or week, or hour!  Can't hope for a better past! It can be liberating to just give myself permission to be on the giddy brink of something new. I can most assuredly come back to Holding the Steering Wheel Really Tightly if I want. But for now, I think I'll just see what happens when I trust my car to the Imagineers of Disneyland.

Today I did some biking around the neighborhood and spotted this perfect summer house with the sunflowers in full force and a cat (can you spot him?) lounging on the front walk. So inviting.

Just down the street was this throw-back flower power car. You can't see it because of the reflection, but there is a team of sunflowers in the front window.

There's a mini van in our neighborhood that has a lawn growing on it. I'll try to get that captured at some point. Never quite in the right place for it.

Apologies for the "My Space" photo

It was another hot an humid day, in the 90s. Heat advisories, etc.  I'm keeping my chin up, though, and taking Powderhorn Lake by storm. Okay, so that isn't really too difficult because it's actually pretty small.