FINDING TRACTION: SUMMER 2020
traction
noun
trac·tion | \ ˈtrak-shən \
the action of drawing or pulling something over a surface, especially a road or track.
"a primitive vehicle used in animal traction"
motive power provided for movement, especially on a railroad.
"the changeover to diesel and electric traction"
the grip of a tire on a road or a wheel on a rail.
"his car hit a patch of ice and lost traction"
the extent to which a product, idea, etc., gains popularity or acceptance.
"analysts predicted that the technology would rapidly gain traction in the corporate market"
MEDICINE
the application of a sustained pull on a limb or muscle, especially in order to maintain the position of a fractured bone or to correct a deformity.
"his leg is in traction"
2020 has felt a lot like the first definition, hasn’t it?
In so many ways 2020 has felt like a demolition derby that has left each of us stuck in the mud just looking for a bit of momentum to build towards normalcy. Pun fully intended when I say we’ve all had to come to grips with our lack of the control we so confidently believed we had in 2019. July was a special month for us because we had the ability and privilege to take a road trip to Wisconsin.
It was eye opening to see the drastic differences between how each community handled pandemic and hardship. In certain towns you could feel the grit and determination to protect each other as family and still try and live and make the most out of a decimated summer tourism season. While other places, people, places, were just trying to take the first steps back to normal. Right/wrong… we tried to not pass judgement but focus what was in our control. Wear a mask. Wash our hands… Choose our moments. We didn’t take a trip to pretend that a Pandemic wasn’t going on, but dang did it feel good to get away.
A Funny Word Traction…
Generally it sparks mental images of tires spinning on the snow and ice… or tackling a steep hill. While the medical definition is now unsettling because in a way it fits so much with our experience of 2020. Recently, society has felt like it has been in traction… as we are torn in different directions. Conversations pull us in hundreds of directions, sometimes leaving us frozen and sometimes bringing about much need social discourse. The “Zoom Fatigue” we all have experienced from the “pull” of group calls to replace family dinners and happy hour with friends. The shifting of priorities and values as many of us work from home and will be hard pressed to go back to 60-hour work weeks.
Traction found a way to become the theme of our trip…
Traction captures so much of the 60+ hours we spent in the car together as a family. A trip that had us reflective, and evaluating how our values and priorities have shifted of late. It captured the announcement of two things that we are excited about for the future, the new Ford Bronco and the reveal of the Seattle Hockey Team, The Seattle Kraken.
The Bronco is a thing, material, but also represents our craving for adventure together with Bridger, and the ability to explore the Pacific Northwest. A car also is another step in our relationship, an investment, a decade long vision. It also is a 4x4 and is fitting metaphor for the bumps and uncertainty of the future.
Traction…
As a new sport begins to take a foothold in our sports-loving city, we are excited to watch and cheer with friends and banter with family over rivalries. A future hockey season represents the hope and optimism we both have for things to get better, eventually. Seattle has lost a lot of its culture in 2020 and hockey is a small way of making up for it.
Traction even found us through an audio book.
During our 60-hours of driving we listened to not one, but two books by Phillip Reeve’s Predator Cities Series. First off, Barnaby Edwards as a narrator made the miles fly by, and even Bridger seemed to love the ridiculous voices of the characters. But what does this have to do with Traction? Without giving too much away, in the novels the world has seen another war that left the world in an Apocalyptic state and in the ruins, Traction Cities developed. The world seen in the books has cities following the principles of “Municipal Darwinism,” trying to consume each other as they roll around on wheels and tank treads. Much of the concept boils down to “keep moving, keep consuming, or be consumed.” How many of us have gotten caught up previously in the rat race of consumerism? Or with Quarantine, how hard was it to slow down and not constantly do any more? One of our goals for our trip was to truly relax and be fully present in the moment. As a household we have the habit of filling our schedules completely or looking for the next project around every turn.
Moving past feeling stuck…
Though we love Seattle, our apartment, and the life we’ve built. There are moments where the feeling of being stuck has crept out from the woodwork. We’ve been combatting that feeling with lots of camping and running. But, one of the special things that happened on this trip was that it truly felt like a vacation, rather than an adventure we had to “work for or pay for” by grinding through an exhausted Monday the day after. We truly lived in the present in each day.
There was a moment in Montana, or maybe it was North Dakota… that we pulled over to the side of the road at an overpass. Did I mention that it was 1 am? There wasn’t a single light to be seen, not from the car, not from the highway or the bridge. We were the only humans we could tell existed for as far as we could see. And without even planning on it, there above us was the comet Neowise. And in that moment, we forgot about finding a room at the next hotel or that we’d already had a 17-hour day of driving. It was a moment to be thankful, for our dog who handled a hard day’s road trip like a champ, for each other, and for a moment to feel small under the sky.
It was that moment, or the tenuous moments waiting for a fishing pole bobber to plunge below the surface, or watching your dog learn about lake life that were truly freeing from the fatigue we were carrying into the trip. So much of it wasn’t planning the day full but just creating the opportunity for joy to occur and embracing what the day brought us. One night it was being outrageous late into the evening playing the 5-second rule. My chest can still feel the laughter! Or being happy that our dog liked his life jacket and was confident wading up to his shoulders, but wasn’t ready to swim yet. I didn’t run as many miles as I planned but that was because I was paddling them on the water instead.
On the way back home, we were wondering if we had to go ALL the way home…
On the way home we took a different way as we explored the Grand Tetons and our pup’s namesake, Bridger-Teton National Forest for his first hike. We saw monuments and tourist traps, and more deer than cars one night. And there in the back of our minds, thoughts, and feelings were gaining traction, even if we didn’t know it yet.
We were fortunate enough that we got to see even more family without it being a part of the original plan. A reminder again that family and intentional time with those we love builds us up. We daydreamed wildly about future trips and adventures we could have with our siblings, where we could camp, or towns that we hope to visit, and the balance in life we seek.
The 10th day of our trip came before we could blink and we found ourselves in old stomping grounds in a home away from home. Boise was surprisingly bittersweet. Two years ago it was one of our first trips together and the place where the first introductions to family were made. It was where siblings grew up and met their spouses, and graduations and holidays were celebrated. This trip it meant camping in an empty condo thinking back on those memories and those fresh from the past week. Boise, represented heading home to uncertainty for the rest of 2020, to grieving that siblings were no longer “just a drive away.” It meant acknowledging just how important it was that we were present this past week. It meant facing the feelings and realizations that had been gaining traction in the back of our minds and in our guts during our trip. It meant realizing that campfires build us up more than cocktails, that we don’t want to live in a building that has an elevator and that a yard for the dog might be more important than walking to work. It meant acknowledging that we love our city we live in but that it might not be our home forever, or maybe just not our only home.
Our trip across the country helped us do the work we couldn’t in our day to day.
Getting away and being fully present left us simultaneously full in our hearts and hungry in our dreams. The clarity might be a bit scary, but it feels damn good to have a better idea of what we want out of tomorrow. And possibly, that was the best kind of traction we could have gotten.