Day 241
My general mood today can be described in one word … pissy. A nicer word would be irritable or perhaps irritated because I wasn’t irritable until I was irritated. And I know my dietary habits of the day hadn’t helped … nothing sounded good and so it was back to the salt or sugar … or salt and sugar bad habits that occasionally take hold of me. You know, the ones that would make any nutritionist or cardiologist shudder.
In any case … there are days that go by fine and then there are days when every little thing is a hassle, every call presents a problem or every email makes me want to jump off the nearest very tall building. Today was such a day.
And so, after a very irritating, frustrating day I went out for a bit late this afternoon. I was destined for an appointment, but, as luck would have it – they were a no-show. Stuff happens … and it sometimes seems to happen all in one day!
So, on my trip back home I was trying to relax. Trying to let the woes of the day fall off me despite being stuck in traffic, despite being behind a stalled car, despite being stopped at every train crossing to let every train in the area go by. It was okay … I was going home.
People are an interesting lot.
It’s (for lack of a better word) amazing what you witness in a 40 minute car ride. And not even a “ride” per say … because I was driving … when my attention should have been more focused on the road than on my fellow drivers or those who were walking along the street.
But, traffic was slow … barely moving … so I had the chance to look at those around me.
The twenty or so people talking on their cell phones was of no surprise. I hate seeing it – but it is not surprising. I am waiting for the day when someone plows into me while on their phone and I’m going to get a zillion dollars because they were an idiot! How this is still legal – to talk and drive – is beyond my comprehension. People can be such awful drivers without adding the cell phone factor into the mix. I don’t get it.
Anyway, the phone talkers were not a surprise … the man shaving, however, was. I watched a man in perfectly pressed, pale pink trousers pick his way across the very busy, very crowded roadway. I was worried about his safety but he practically glided across … I felt as if I’d witnessed magic! (And he looked fabulous in those pants!)
I saw a fire hydrant painted to look like Snoopy. I saw a lot (a LOT) of people who were passengers looking extremely bored – why weren’t they talking to each other? I saw people arguing. I saw people singing. Funny, I didn’t see anyone laughing. Too bad. As I sat at a stop light I glanced over at three people sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. They all looked as if their dog had just died. I wondered how awful waiting for that bus might be come some cold day in December? Or some wet and rainy evening at any time? My admiration for them soared. I also wanted to offer them each a ride home.
I am so aware of the changing trees in this area. I’m hoping for a very colorful autumn. I could use one! There were clumps here and there of reds and yellows and a few trees in full color. I could feel my frustrations lessen. Nature does that to me.
And a little further down the road I saw them … an older couple, walking hand-in-hand, along the tree-lined sidewalk, out for an early evening walk with their little fluff dog.
That sight was simply so sweet it instantly melted all the cares of the day away … and without actually being home – I felt like I was.