Attention to the Details

I'm always writing about all the beautiful things I see on the drive in to work.  Deer and turkey, bunnies, cows and horses.  Trees and flowers and all things nature.  It's amazing what you can see from the front seat of a car as you drive along.  We spend so much of our time in cars these days.  Some days we're like zombies just looking straight ahead, not quite awake, our minds so full we're just driving on auto-pilot until we arrive at our destinations.  Some days I'll pass a friend and neighbor and we'll exchange waves and smiles.  Other days, I'm sure I pass that same friend and neighbor and am so deep in my own thoughts that I don't even realize I just missed them drive by.

Sometimes it's not just nature that catches my attention.  This morning, for instance, I saw tiny children clamber up the steps of a big yellow school bus.  I thought about myself when I was that age, so excited to be going to school.  I remember how big those steps up into the bus were, and how I sometimes needed help up that first step.  I watched as a little boy, no bigger than a minute, stood at the top step excitedly waving at his sweet Mama who stood faithfully by the curb.  Some day he'll be older and it won't be "cool" to wave and blow a kiss to his Mom.

Parked at a light, I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a woman in the car behind me, on her cell phone.  She was crying so hard, tears streaming down her face.  She kept wiping her eyes and her face was red.  My heart immediately went out to her and I said a little prayer for her to have peace for whatever was upsetting her.  I had to wonder if she was arguing with a spouse, or had an ailing parent.  Could someone close to her have just died?  Whatever was causing her grief, I prayed for it to pass.

As I was in line at the drive-thru getting coffee, I looked across the parking lot and saw two of the sweetest little elderly women standing next to a car.  They both had pure white hair and looked to be in their 80's.  One had a lavender sweater on, the other a soft yellow.  They were facing each other and holding each other's hands out in front of them, visiting away.  One would reach over and pat the other's cheek adoringly, and then they'd embrace, still holding onto each other's arms as they kept on with their conversation.  One would nod her head in agreement to what the other was saying.  It was so sweet to watch and you wondered what they were talking about so intently.  It was so touching to see how much love and tenderness they were conveying to each other.  They were obviously close friends.  It made me want to jump out and give them both hugs.  It made me miss my Grandma's.

As I rounded the last corner to my office, I saw a man in a big truck driving toward me.  He was on his cell phone and looked to be furiously yelling into the phone.  He was so mad at whoever he was talking to that you could see the vein in the side of his neck bulging out as he pounded his fist on the steering wheel.  I cringed to see him so upset.  What a terrible way to end my drive to work, wondering about what could have made him so mad and worrying about the poor person on the receiving end of that call.  It made my stomach hurt to remember being yelled at myself in the past, and guilty to think back on times when I was mad enough to yell at a loved one myself.

Just one little drive to work and so many emotional observations.