Stuck in the Middle

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My dad was at the wheel and seemed to be content with the long drive that felt like an eternity.  My mom was in the front passenger seat reading a book or magazine or quite possibly a map to our final destination.  My sisters and I were crunched in the back seat of a very small Mazda GLC wagon.

We had been driving for almost three hours on a hot June day in 1983.  Here I was…on a long drive, in a car without air conditioning, on a hot summer day in the middle of June, sandwiched between two of the most uncompassionate little girls God ever created.  As always, I was stuffed in the middle of the back seat with each sister on either side of me. Both of whom were leaning out the windows blocking the coveted fresh air I desperately desired blowing through the open windows.

Now that I’m older, I realize just how devious they were in making sure they could sit by the windows and forced me into the middle on every car ride.  It didn’t matter the distance of the ride…I always ended up in the uncomfortable middle position.

More often than not my sisters would be the last to leave the house because they knew I was already in the car, then each one would walk to either side of the car and force me into the middle.  When they weren’t the last to leave the house, they would stand outside the car with doors open and wait for me to leave the house.  When I would question why they weren’t in the car, they would make up some stupid excuse thinking I was too stupid to see through their scheme, but I always knew what they were up to, so I would prolong the ruse until one or both of our parents would intervene and force us into the car.  As always, I would end up in the middle.

The car we had was equipped with a rear compartment that was actually pretty roomy for a smaller child.  Often I would crawl into that very back compartment just to get some space to relieve my discomfort of being squished by two horrible siblings, sadly, on family vacations that wasn’t possible because we had it packed tightly with luggage, blankets, pillows, an emergency travel kit and a large cooler that had tons of drinks and snacks so we didn’t have to make any stops along the way.  I still don’t know how we packed everything into that little Mazda and still managed to get the five of us in that car.

To make matters worse as we would set out on the open road, my dad would drive with a purpose to get from point A to point B in as little time as possible.  He didn’t want to make pit stops.  That wasn’t on the itinerary.  If I complained about being sweaty, hot or car sick, or if I requested a stop somewhere so I could stretch my legs; my dad would just ignore me and my mom would do her best to appease my discomfort by offering me a snack or ask if I wanted to play a game to take my mind off the uneasiness.  Her compassionate nature was always something I loved about my mom.  Unfortunately, it never helped, so over time I learned to grit my teeth, not complain and fight through the inconvenience of being in the middle.  Unbearably, that didn’t help either.

There were times I would ask my sisters if one of them would switch with me…but because of their pride and disdain towards me they always said no.

I would implore my parents to intervene, but they would usually take the side of my sisters for one reason or another.  This was usually the point where I would run out of patience, and because I felt betrayed by my parents lack of assistance, the pressures of dealing with car-sickness and by my two siblings lack of compassion, my frustrations would swell up and maybe an elbow would conveniently be thrown into the area of where my sisters were sitting.

Of course, that would lead to my sisters throwing elbows in retaliation…my mom trying to get control of the situation from the comforts of her front passenger seat…and my dad yelling obscenity’s and threatening to either pull the car over or turn the car around.  Both options I would have happily accepted to just get out of that car and away from the middle seat.

Alas…my dad’s threats were empty and veiled as we would continue driving and the sibling squabble would come to an end when my mom would provide a glimmer of hope and request that my dad pull over at the next rest stop so we could take a short break.

It was in those moments I would get the idea that maybe my mom understood my plight.  That maybe she would intervene and tell one of my sisters that they would ride in the middle for a few miles so I could get a reprieve…but that was never the case.

We would pull into the rest stop…scurry in to do our business…I would take a few minutes to walk around to stretch my legs…and then we would all pile back into the car. . .with me stuck in the middle with both sisters on either side of me.

Today, in the midst of civil unrest, pandemics, financial ups and downs, rumors of wars, political strife and lots and lots of hatred and intolerance from every race, creed and color… I feel that same car-sick nausea and discomfort of being stuck in the middle.

If I complain that I’m uncomfortable, I’m ignored.

If I try to grit my teeth and fight through the discomfort, I only get more agitated and aggravated because of my discomfort.

If I try to do something to take my mind off of it, the discomfort constantly reminds me that it’s not going away.

The squabbles, the tensions, the hatred and contempt of people on both the Left and the Right is not only pathetic but annoying as hell.

They perform battles of ignorance and stupidity and combine it with indecency, lack of respect and lack of courtesy towards everyone and everything, including their own bodies.

It’s all extremely frustrating to watch from the middle seat.

What’s more, it’s aggravating for us in the middle seat to witness just how vain and inconsiderate the cattle on both sides really are.

I hope that very soon all of you on the Left and the Right are brought to the realization that you are just naïve, lowly cud chewers who follow the most ignorant of your respective herd, but I know that’s wishful thinking on my part.

You bovine imbeciles on the Left and the Right won’t stop throwing temper tantrums.  You’ll continue your plot and schemes against those of us caught in the middle, just so you can continue sitting by the windows.  And for those of us who will forever be stuck riding in the middle we will continue to endure with much patience the discomforts of having to sit between two of the most inconsiderate groups of cattle God ever created.

Consequently, don’t be surprised when those of us who are stuck in the middle of this very long, hot, uncomfortable ride called “life” eventually get so frustrated with both of you that we start throwing elbows.  

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