slow down

for two days in a row, i was stuck in worse than normal traffic on the highway. today, as I sat there barely moving at all, i started noticing how different the highway looks when you are going slow on it. this part of the highway i was on literally never has traffic and usually moves so quickly that i never even notice what it looks like. i began to wonder if its like the highway itself is not ever even supposed to be seen at such slow speeds. you can see all the places where cars have wrecked into the sides, the marks ugly and scarring. and you notice the broken glass, too, the places where things have come completely apart. but you also see the other people around you better, notice the person in the red suv ahead put their hand on the door and then stretch it out a bit, absent-minded, bored. the other cars moving opposite you are seen more fully. the road signs and directions clearer.

a forced slow down.