While driving home from a concert the other night I looked up at the overhead freeway sign that said “Los Angeles” and was hit with an overwhelming moment of nostalgia. Being that we live in San Diego it seems about right that if you keep heading north, you will eventually end up in LA, but the mere presence of this overhead sign takes me back to my childhood.

I grew up in a small town of 15,000 people in Connecticut, and we were lucky enough that one of the interstate highways actually went through our town. I remember we’d get on the highway and if we headed east the signs starting saying “Boston” and if we went west they said “New York”.

We always got on the highway, and sometimes we would head east, sometimes west, but we never arrived in Boston or New York. I remember asking my parents, “Why does the sign say New York if that’s not where we’re going?” They explained to me that the sign merely indicated we were heading towards the city, that if we continued on past our exit we would eventually get there.

One time, we went west and eventually got to New York, and then got on 95 heading south, and I remember seeing a sign saying “Miami”. And I was so excited, the fact that I could keep going south from there and could end up in Miami! It was as if a world of possibility opened up. I was living in a tiny town in a tiny state, but was a mere 10 minutes from the highway that could take us anywhere.

One day many years later I got on that highway and went west, but I didn’t get on 95 and head south toward Miami. I kept going went towards Ohio. And after that I towards Denver. And then from there I saw the signs for Las Vegas. And then I saw Los Angeles, and finally San Diego.

That was over 10 years ago. I haven’t driven those same highways since.

Every time I’m driving on the highway (freeway here) and I look up and see the sign which tells me where I will end up if I just keet going, I can’t help but think about all the possibilities that await.

What possibilities await for you?

###

First time reading?

• See more about me and Idealist Cafe
• Add Idealist Cafe to your feed reader
• Or maybe sign up to get free updates by email
• Liking Idealist Cafe on Facebook is a good option
• Catch more frequent and random updates on Twitter
• Just reading this article is cool too! :)

Originally posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 7:24 AM .