watching movies in another car

So back to trying to stick to my resolution of writing more in the upcoming year...it's been a while. Anyhow.

Every week day, I spend a full two hours on the road. One hour to get to work, one hour back. The sun's liminal zones have become a familiar part of my day, mostly in the sense that I am slightly too short to be covered by the sun visor so I'm always adjusting and re-adjusting my face so that I can actually see the road over the glare. (Yeah, doesn't that make you feel just that much better about little Asian women driving? Sometimes we literally cannot see where we're going!!)

So on this one particular day, I'm stuck in the afternoon traffic. I'm about half-way home, I think 92.5 was on their #2 most-requested song of the day (my car, Arthur, sadly does not have a CD player so I'm pretty much a slave to the radio. That being said, my standards for "good music" has deteriorated greatly since I've been home). So I'm looking around absent-mindedly, and I notice that the minivan in front of me has one of those new-fangled built-in DVD players set up for their kid(s). And because I am stuck in traffic, I start watching it too (they say TV sucks out your brains, and it is sooo true). The washed out color makes me think it's an older movie, or maybe even a black-and-white one. An episode of I Love Lucy, perhaps? Seems like an odd choice of entertainment for a little kid, though I admit, I did enjoy it when I was little, even if I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. I inch Arthur a little bit closer, trying to figure it out.

There are two kids in the show, whatever it is. Definitely two children. And...a lanky man. With a...broom, is it? Odd. Okay, not I Love Lucy. Oh but there's also a woman. She's dressed in a rather old-fashioned manner, long full skirt, long coat, hat. Kind of prim. And she has a gigantic hand-bag. And she's...oh she's pulling something long and poley from the bag OH MY GOD IT'S MARY POPPINS!!

I'd like to say that I didn't squeal and let go of the wheel and clap my hands in excitement, but that would be most opposite of the truth. I squealed. I let go of the wheel. And I definitely clapped my hands. I was so excited to watch Julie Andrews work her governess magic, I almost didn't see the car in the next lane that was trying to edge in in front of me. Luckily, I did see him (unlike the time when I was driving home from a lovely day in DC with Ryan and Cat when I almost broadsided a Range Rover while merging onto I-66, which would have killed all of us instantly as Arthur is 1. a small Acura Integra, 2. he is almost 20 years old, which means 3. he has almost zero safety features, such as airbags or lap belts. But that's another story for another day), and so grudgingly let him in. I hope that car enjoyed watching Mary Poppins as much as I did, b/c it definitely made my day.