I Accidentally Entered a Hot Rod Parade in an SUV
Learning How To Enjoy Embarrassment
Geoff and Steve started The Creativity Guild to create a community of mid-life creative explorers looking to reignite their creative sparks. The goal is to build a place for us all to reconnect with our creativity, start the projects we’ve always wanted to work on and be the people we’ve always wanted to be.
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Geoff recently shared Steve Martin’s story about how he channelled Carl Reiner in social situations because it was unnatural for him to be comfortable in crowds. I think I recently channelled Clark Griswold with my family in a hugely embarrassing situation.
The Sunshine Coast Rod Run
We were recently heading to visit my parents on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. My brother and his family had flown in from Ottawa and we were gathering the entire family in Halfmoon Bay. My parents warned me that there was something called “The Rod Run” happening on the day we were travelling, but I paid no attention to the warning.
As we were driving through the town of Sechelt, traffic ground to a halt. We sat in gridlock for about 15 minutes and, having completely forgotten the warning about the Rod Run, I had no clue what was going on and assumed it was an accident.
Thankfully, Google Maps suggested an alternate route around the traffic jam, so I scooted up a side street. I came to a four-way stop sign. To my right, there was a small crowd cheering an old sports car that turned right. I waited my turn and went through the intersection, following the sports car.
As I drove through the intersection, I saw that there was a giant line-up of hot rods all turning right as well. It was at this moment that I remembered… The Rod Run.
It turns out that the Rod Run is a gathering of vintage Hot Rod cars and that they drive along the main highway in a parade. It also turns out that, somehow with the aid of Google Maps, I entered the parade. Our SUV was driving down the highway in the middle of the parade, sandwiched between Hot Rods.
To make matters worse, the streets were lined with people in lawn chairs and sitting in the beds of their pickup trucks, all cheering on the Hot Rods. And not just a few people. HUNDREDS of people for kilometres and kilometres.
Giant homemade signs welcomed the Rod Run participants back to the Sunshine Coast. There was clapping and waving and hooting. They were all VERY excited about the Rod Run.
Until they saw a family of five in an SUV smack dab in the middle of it. One guy on the side of the road seemed visibly upset that we were in the parade and was shaking his arm in an attempt to shame us off the road.
At first, I panicked. What should we do? There was nowhere to pull over and get out of the parade.
What horrors have I wrought? I’ve cast a pox on our family’s good name by tainting the fabled Rod Run!
But then, it became blindingly obvious what we should do. We should channel Clark Griswold and lean into the excitement and the embarrassment. We should pretend like we belonged in the parade.
So we opened up all our windows and started honking and waving back at the crowd. I’m sure many of the crowd were confused about why an SUV was in the parade, but because we weren’t hiding and instead acted like we belonged, everything immediately felt better.
Very soon, we were killing ourselves laughing. We would see the confused looks on people’s faces as we drove past, honking, waving, and cheering, and then we would get a timid wave back or a thumbs up.
Maybe they thought we won a contest? Maybe they thought I was the Mayor? Who knows? It was hilarious and at certain points, we could barely breathe because we were laughing so hard.
Hot Takes on Hot Rod Parades / Parade Pontifications
So what have I taken away from accidentally entering a Hot Rod parade in an SUV?
Creative confidence is often in short supply. Whether it is writing email newsletters to put out into the void of the internet and wondering whether anyone will like what you’ve written, or whether it is struggling with the heft of figuring out a new medium like writing a book, creative impostor syndrome looms large.
The internet is filled with stories of creative success - “How I grew my newsletter to 100,000 people in 3 days!” or “Thanks for making me a #1 New York Times best-seller on launch day!” It causes you to unconsciously inflate your expectations, become unnaturally daunted by the task before you, and forget why you are doing a creative project in the first place. You feel like you are not good enough and that you don’t belong in this vaunted company.
We instantly felt like outsiders in the parade (because we were). We didn’t belong and we knew it. “Acting as if” we belonged transformed a mortifying experience into a really funny family adventure (and a Creativity Guild post!).
We’ve been talking about the idea of finding your voice and this is another aspect of it. I’m not sure whether this is “dance like no one’s watching” or “lean into the moment” or some other cliche, but it was a great reminder to embrace whatever situation you’re in and to just go for it. Just play along, have fun, and act like you belong.
Thanks, Rod Runners, and apologies again for raining on your parade!
On this edition’s Community Calendar, we thought it would be nice to celebrate a couple of other writers in the Guild that we greatly enjoy.
The Chase
First up is my old friend,
. Jordan is one of the finest, most creative storytellers I’ve ever worked with and he’s also hilarious. The Chase is a newsletter that is a big of a smorgasbord - sometimes a priceless review of the A&W breakfast scene in Duncan, BC, sometimes a vulnerable and candid take on a relationship with alcohol, and sometimes a peek into trying Aquafit as a middle-aged man. Jordan has so many good stories… and he’s a great storyteller. I look forward to every edition.Something Good
writes a devilishly good newsletter that, true to its name, always provides something good. Favourite posts include a totally amazing cross continental coincidence that happened while Mark accidentally stumbled across the set of the Lizzy Maguire movie while wandering around the streets of Rome, to a fairly brilliant interview with (aka Cadence Weapon). Always interesting, surprising and incredibly well written. Highly recommended!