Love & Death

Every weekday at 5 o'clock, I can usually be seen heading out to my car, ipod in hand, deciding what to listen to on the commute home. Once I am in the car with the engine running I roll down my windows (weather permitting) and turn up the volume. No matter how loud my stereo blasts, it is not uncommon for me to have my music drowned out by someone else's while sitting at a red light. And 99% of the time that someone else's music will be Outkast, Busta Rhymes, T-Pain, or some other incomprehensible Hip-Hop artist that makes my ears want to bleed. However, yesterday was different. I had just pulled out of my building and onto a busy street with a red light up ahead. As I pulled to a stop behind the car in front of me, the current song ended and I could hear the music of the vehicle coming up on my right. It was good music. It was definitely an indie rock sound that I did not recognize and I found myself immediately wanting to know what it was. While in a state of shock that someone else in this county was listening to indie rock, I turned my head slowly to check it out. The dark blue Audi shined like a beacon amongst the other vehicles. The driver was male (check), about my age (check), listening to sweet music (check check), seemed tall (check) with dark hair and beautiful blue eyes (or maybe I just imagined that part about the eyes). By the time the five seconds between songs was over, I was married and living in a beach house with 2 indie hipster kids with aspirations to start a brother/sister White Stripes cover band. Just then, the light turned green and my future husband's lane started to move. My eyes were still peeled in disbelief on the Audi. I scanned the rest of the vehicle and noted that he was from Virginia. Then I saw it. The strike that trumped all the above checks. A Virginia Tech license plate frame. And our 5 second relationship was over forever.