Three things I actually miss about driving to work every day

For nearly 11 months now, I like many white-collar Americans have been working from home.

There is much to be recommended about this approach to work. The free and easily accessible snacks for one, and the massive savings on gas and car maintenance for another.

But I've come to realize there really are some things I miss about that drive to the office I used to take all the time, and that I presumably at some point in 2021 will begin taking regularly again. Here are three of them:

(1) THE GUM: I keep a stash of intensely flavored (and intensely scented) peppermint gum in my car, and my habit was always to pop a stick into my mouth at the start of my morning and evening commutes. It's not like I can't chew it when I'm at home, but I just don't think to do it and, for whatever reason, it's not the same. My wife, it should be noted, is not at all a fan of this gum or the way it smells, so I have to be careful not to chew it around her. She refers to my car as "The Mint Mobile" because of it.

(2) THE MUSIC: Over the last decade, I have become an avid fan of classical music. In that time I have built a considerable library of CDs covering most of the basic classical repertoire. I usually listen to those CDs in the car. Less commute time = less Beethoven time. This is unfortunate. I've tried to make up for it, but again, the car is my concert hall.

(3) THE 40 MINUTES OF QUIET TIME: Not that my life is the same sort of loud, chaotic daily existence it used to be when the kids were little, but there's something to be said for being by yourself, listening to what you want, and just generally enjoying the experience of driving to and from work every day. I do kind of miss that. It will return eventually, but for now, I miss it.