Paving the way

At first glance, you might think that this post title is a metaphorical one, leading to some thoughtful, well-written and perhaps even inspirational story about how I "paved the way" for someone to do something truly spectacular.

But, well, you would be wrong.

This post is literally about road paving. Our road, in fact.

 New road on the left, old road on the right

We had no idea that our road was a state maintained road, but now that we know, we're thrilled.  Our road is being paved and it was much needed.  It's a relatively thin, windy road with lots of uneven pavement and patches.  People jog and walk on it all the time, and did I mention that most people drive at least 45 miles an hour on it? It's so scary and unsafe.

So from what I can tell as we enter week three of road work is that first they worked on widening the existing road.  Literally just added some asphalt to the sides wherever they could.  Then last week they paved one full side of the road, which is at least a mile long, maybe even longer.  And this morning when I was leaving work they were finally starting work on the other lane.  It appears that they have finished half of this second lane, except for a weird strip in the middle, and I assume that they'll finish the other half tomorrow.  Then, they'll probably spend the rest of week doing something else, since seriously - does it really take three full weeks to pave a road? I guess so...

Anyway, we're excited.  The new road is going to look great, will be slightly wider (although I've already forgotten how narrow the old one was, since this one seems narrow now too), and it's raised about 2 or 3 inches higher than the previous road, so there's no bump at the end of our driveway.  I'm hoping that some of the waviness/bumpiness in certain areas of the road have been eliminated as well.

Now that I've written this, I feel really lame.  Seriously!?!? I'm excited about my road being paved?  Am I getting old? Or is this what folks out in the suburban wilderness actually get excited about?  Have I lived away from the city for so long that this is what is exciting to me?