Among the shadows of giants.
Since moving to the Minneapolis area in 1998, I've only ventured downtown a handful of times. And I've never driven there myself. In the past I've never had problems driving through metropolitan areas with their imposing skyscrapers looming all around; I found it exhilarating.
I know the north metro suburbs like the back of my hand but downtown Minneapolis makes me skittish and queasy. In fact, a few months ago I canceled a job interview with a temp agency because it required a visit to the agency's Minneapolis offices!
Today I received a welcome packet for my new job with instructions and directions for attending an orientation and welcome session. In downtown Minneapolis. Don't worry - I'm not going to turn down the job because of this. But I will need to mentally prepare myself beforehand. Maybe even pop a Valium.
I try not to be too hard on myself for this late-in-life fear. After all, I was raised in Kansas, land of as-far-as-the-eye-can-see prairies and farm fields. It's only natural that the opposite extreme might seem a bit imposing.
2 comments:
I can soooo relate! Coming from a suburb of the "big city" of Des Moines, then I married a farmer and moved to the country outside of a small town I got out of the habit of city driving. Last week my son got married... you guessed it... downtown Des Moines. Ugh. I was incredibly glad someone else drove and I just had to ride along. All the one-way streets and so forth, gah! Good luck... you'll do great. Just give yourself time to get lost. :)
I always took driving into the big city as a kind of adventure - exciting and thrilling (I came from a small town of a 25,000 population).
Good luck with the job orientation - and may the drive in be not too adventurous for you!!!
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