Around 7:30am on a rainy day last week, I was walking from my apartment to my car.* A man was putting oil in his car about five spaces away from me, and when he saw me he called out, "Hey! What happened to your truck?"**
Shocked/jet-lagged/a bit confused, I mumbled, "I had a car accident." And he just nodded like, "Oh, okay. Just checking," and disappeared back under the hood of his car. Now let's put aside the fact that 1.) I was still extremely jet-lagged from my recent return from the UK, 2.) it was 7:30am, and 3.) I am so not a morning person. I would instead like to focus on the fact that here was this guy who lives in my apartment complex, who I have never seen before in my life, and he knows what kind of car I drive. Creepy much?
"It's time to move," I thought to myself.
But is it really? It's strange how my first response is "Oh crap, people are starting to remember that I live here. Must be time to get the hell outta here." I mean, I was always the kid who begged her parents not to move and felt sick at the thought of somebody else living in her house. Was it the fact that I moved at least twice a year from the ages of 18-24 that changed things for me? Has all this traveling and exploring made me way too restless?
Maybe not. Most of the time I like knowing where the nearest dry cleaner is or the best place to go for a pint. I've been getting my hair cut by the same person for three years now, and I've been working for the same company for a pretty long time as well. Maybe "too restless" comes when I have an experience like the one above and immediately run back into my apartment to start packing.
I still think it's time to move, tho. People should at least say hello before the freak the crap out of you.
* I use the phrase "my car" only for convenience sake because it, actually, is not my car. It's my mom's van that has been bequeathed to my Not So Little Brother. We affectionately refer to him as "Old Sideburns" because he can grow them and to the van as "The Tank" because it kinda feels like you're driving/sitting in one.
**No, this was not a miscommunication. I used to drive a truck. I hope to do so again sometime soon.
