In Synch

In 1980, singer Eddie Rabbitt had quite a few country cross-over hits. One of them was Drivin’ My Life Away. One of my favorite lines in that song is:

“Those windshield wipers slappin’ out a tempo,
Keepin’ perfect rhythm with the song on the radio,
But I got to keep rollin’“

In all the years I have been driving, I’ve never really experienced such a phenomena. I spend a lot of time on the road. Weather conditions often require the windshield wipers to be on during my drive. Sure, every now and then the tempo of a song and the wipers have been close – but never in synch with each other. If it had, I never really noticed. Finally, tonight it happened!

The drive in was absolutely awful. Temperatures were in the upper 20’s. North of us, they were getting hit with snow. Near me, it was freezing rain and drizzle. The roads were icy and I knew I’d have to leave earlier than normal. As I headed out, those icy conditions were very apparent.

The freezing rain, drizzle, and rain continued all the way to work. I had to have the heat blowing on the windshield the entire way in because if I didn’t it was freezing to it. I also had to bump the wiper speed from “intermittent” to “low” to keep a clear view. Because of this, everything fell “in synch.”

I had finished listening to a book on tape, and switched over to Sirius XM Symphony Hall in hopes that some classical music would keep me calm and focused on the drive in. They were playing a symphony or a sonata from Joseph Haydn. I don’t know that I ever heard it before. I can’t recall the name of it. It was either in 6/8 or 3/4 time. It was almost “waltz” sounding.

As I listened to the wipers slapping back and forth against the ice and rain, I noticed it had a “1-2-3, 1-2-3” feel to it. The first beat as the wiper raised, the second as it reached the top, and the third as it rested back at the bottom. It then became very clear as I listened to the wipers that the Haydn piece was totally in synch with them. It is the silliest thing, but I actually got excited and even more into the piece! Immediately, the words of Eddie Rabbitt came to mind.

I drove and listened to the remainder of this song in perfect time with my windshield wipers and the whole time I was giddy as a kid in a candy store. Ridiculous, right? Maybe, but sometimes you need something so silly and so simple to put you in a good mood.