Tag Archives: amusement

“Seriously!?” she said.

Yesterday was a run errands kind of day. One of those errands included picking up a little more fall decor. (I like to add a little bit each year.) I opted to go to Target since its, well, okay, one of my most favorite stores.

It was early afternoon, so it wasn’t very busy. I got better than normal parking, and I headed towards the store. I could hear a car coming up behind me down the aisle I was parked, and I figured they’d pass on by and head their way. They… didn’t. Made me a little uncomfortable how they stuck behind me the whole way, but I kept my stride and kept walking. I really wanted them to just move on, so I took a little zig-zag over to cross the “roadway” in the actual crosswalk in front of the store. That’s when I heard it:

“SERIOUSLY!?” a woman shouted. And as I got across the road just sped off behind me, clearly upset I’d taken an extra four or five steps to cross in the crosswalk.

I am the least confrontational person you’ll meet. Unless I am in a position of leadership. Then I have NO PROBLEM chewing you out for not pulling your weight or for being out of line in any way. I take leadership positions seriously. But in day-to-day life? Eh. I do my road rage ranting behind closed windows. I rant in my journal or to my husband or my mom. (Or both if I am really ticked off.) But past that? Nope. I had confrontations.

But boy can I stew on something that bothers me! For hours. Days. Heck, I am still stewing over stuff that happened in elementary school! I can stew, man.

So needless to say, my entire time in Target, I stewed over this woman. Doing that “wish I’d haves” and the “what the hells?”

At first, I wished I’d stopped and spun around and shouted back a well timed, “REALLY!?” at her. I mean, she had ample time to go around me. So in that respect, her “problem” truly was her own.

Then I wished I’d have slowed my pace dramatically. I’m 6′ tall. I can walk slow, but even then my stride is the equivalent of about two strides to anyone else. I wished I’d have shortened my stride just to mess with her. But, really, I was glad I kept my head high and pretended I didn’t hear her.

Ultimately, I decided that if my four or five extra steps really caused her that much stress, she has bigger issues that I could ever consider. If she was running late, she might as well give it up now. My walking added all of five seconds to her wait. And if she really felt the need to be confrontational on this issue? Then who knows how she’d be in a major confrontation, and I wanted NO part of that.

So I let it go and went about my day. I was in a good mood, and I wasn’t going to let her get me down.

Seriously.

Perfect timing

My husband and I often “jinx”– say the same thing at the same time. Or one will call the other, just as the other was about to call as well. It happens, and we always comment how cool that is.

This weekend, though, we took  it to a new level.

With shows close to home, my husband was the only bus driver for his artist this weekend. That meant, after he dropped the rest of the band and crew off at “bus call,” he had to take the bus back to the bus lot and I would pick him up there. He needed to fuel the bus, so instead of his calling me as he left bus call (which is what he usually does, and it gets me to the lot about five minutes behind him), he called me from the truck stop to head out to get him.

He left bus call around 5 AM, and he called me about half an hour later. He was fueling the bus, so if I wanted to head towards to bus lot, that would probably work out time-wise. I threw on a pair of jeans and tennis shoes with my over sized t-shirt I’d be lounging in all night. I jumped in the truck, and I headed north.

Now, around 5:30 AM, I would not expect traffic to be flying like it was. I knew he had awhile, so when I hit the interstate, I wasn’t worried about rushing. I set the cruise right around the speed limit. Traffic around me, though, had to have been cruising at around 80. I was being passed like I was standing still!!

Just as I was past downtown, I noticed a tour bus merge onto the interstate.

Now, I live in Nashville where you can throw a rock and hit a tour bus. So this didn’t phase me until I realized I was at the exit my husband had stopped to fuel. Immediately my brain went, “Could that be him? What are the odds of his pulling onto the interstate only maybe a quarter of a mile ahead of me?”

I sped up a bit to try to catch up, squinting in the dark. The bus passed under a street light, and I could see it was a solid maroon bus and trailer. It WAS him!

Immediately, I sped up even more, giggling my head off. As I cruised up beside him, I started flashing my headlights at him. Then as I pulled ahead, he hit the bus’s strobe lights and called me. We were both laughing, amazed at our perfect timing.

“That’s just how we are!” I said to him.

I led him to the bus lot, and I “helped” him get the bus parked. We did a little cleaning up and then threw his bags in the truck to go home… and go to bed! We were both on this giddy high, though, of his being home and our crazy-good timing.

What are the odds of all that having come together? I don’t know. I really don’t care. The fact that it did has left me chuckling ever since. And that, I say, is all that matters.