There’s a road nearby that I travel, to get to Roseville
from my little city of Orangevale, several times a month, Roseville Parkway. In all the times I’ve driven it I’ve never noticed that much of it has
sumptuous median plantings; including trees, thick and multi-layer bushes and
brick trimming. It is really quite lovely. By the maturity of the trees, you
can see that it was groomed and planted over several years. All of the trees
are all still quite young, but the potential is there for a lovely leafy drive one
day.
The other day, I was almost startled awake from my
unconscious steering of the car by so suddenly noticing this feature of the
parkway that I slowed down and nearly pulled over, thinking that I was going
the wrong way – since I didn’t remember the median growth at all.
After I got over the feeling of being lost, I resumed
driving, mindful of my surroundings. What I saw was a very deliberate attempt
to beautify a six-lane thoroughfare through a suburban and sometimes even rural
area and whoever had undertaken this attempt had been successful. I enjoyed
seeing the variations of both plants and design.
Then I found it sad that a governmental agency had gone to
the trouble of doing what so many of us demand – making our common areas more
attractive – and I hadn’t even noticed. Additionally, I found it upsetting that
I had driven this way so many times without seeing it.
As a writer, I am most effective when I’m a good observer,
not only of human interactions but also of my surroundings, both real and imagined.
So, to know that I had driven blindly past such a distinctive landmark,
repeatedly, was truly unsettling.
It is the unseen things, which we writers point out, that make
readers so interested in what we have to say. That really is a big part of our
job, bringing forth the unrealized, unnoticed and laying it before our audience
for their inspection and enjoyment.
I’ve been shaken awake by this experience and honing in on
my surroundings and the reactions of others in wholly new ways. I only hope I
can hold on to this new awareness of things unseen and never again slip back into that state of not being present.
