“Get your arm back in the car!” I’d yell to no one who could hear me anyway.

You in the sedan, mini-van, SUV, pickup truck or convertible.

With your left arm fully extended out your driver’s side window, fingers spread just enough to the let the wind pass through.  Oh how you used to drive me crazy.  I know.  You were causing me no harm.  I was just a driver like you traveling down the interstate.

My arms were inside.  But there you were, the left arm straight out of the window catching air just like my golden retriever does with her muzzle.  On occasion, your passenger was doing the same thing.  Two arms, now, coming out of the car feeling the breeze.  I can’t even …

Such an innocuous thing.  But this was my road pet peeve.  Some people go berserk following drivers who neglect to turn off directional signals miles after a lane change or exit.  For me, it was drivers who stick arms out car windows.

Well … now I’m one of them.  That’s what spending days in a hospital will do.

I didn’t even know I was doing it, at first.  I left the hospital to run an errand a couple of weeks ago.  It had been 38 hours without fresh air.

Miles away I noticed my windows were down, the sunroof open and my left arm was sticking outside the window.  Straight out.  It felt great.  I needed to touch the air.  I had to feel it between my fingers; gather it in my palm.  At that moment, I stopped judging air-catching drivers.

Today while meeting my goal — going with Nate for a walk — I noticed he needed to touch air.

Nate had not felt the sun on his face or fresh air for more than three weeks.  We were fortunate this week to be discharged from the hospital for a short break before resuming treatment. 

As soon as we got moving, he lifted his arms up.  He clasped and unclasped his hands.  Then he laughed.  Normally he falls asleep pretty quickly on walks.  But today he stayed awake until we returned home.

I couldn’t get enough of the fresh air or the fall colors. As soon as Sam came home, we hopped on the bikes and off we went.

Sometimes I only had one arm on the handlebars.