Small Moments in Time Revisited and Coasting to a Stop

Sometimes...more often than that really..there are these small moments in time, the kind that make you reflect back to a memory from long ago. I used to write about these small moments and thought after I retired from teaching I would have time to continue but somehow Labs got in the way and there are always excuses. But today, as I headed out in my car which I rarely do these days, one of those small moments struck me. I was heading in the opposite direction of lots of morning traffic that was backing up bumper to bumper at a light. As I continued there was a gap in the traffic between the long line and the next car. Not because the previous light had caused this gap but because there was a car, moving ever so slowly, inching along, to approach the long line of backed up cars waiting for the light to turn green. I knew why he was going so slowly. I knew because my father used to do this very same thing as he approached a red light. He would slow down well before, take his foot off the gas, literally coasting so he would hardly ever have to brake. Generally it worked for him. He hardly ever did have to brake. One of his many ways to conserve..on gas, on his brakes. He kept a little notebook in the car where he would keep track of miles traveled, how many miles per gallon he got. Anyway, this small moment triggered those memories and it made me smile. It made me sad too. But glad that I can remember these moments in time.