Relying on the kindness of strangers

It just occurred to me today that people are sometimes nice...just because. In this season of Lent, and particularly today when things feel hugely overwhelming, I have to self-highlight things that people do that I want to mirror in my own behavior. And it was something as simple as flashing headlights. I had the car all loaded up to take some stuff to Goodwill. I was a woman on a mission yesterday. What started out as a search for empty boxes to throw away for trash day turned into a mini garage sweep. In just under two hours, I got half of the garage pared down to what we actually need. I was pretty proud of myself. I got the back of the Yukon all filled up, took a picture for posterity...ok, not really :) but for tax purposes. It helps me organize the It's Deductible program better. I headed over to Goodwill where I dropped everything off. I took a different way home, one that sort of weaves through the back of our neighborhood. As I make a turn, someone coming towards me is flashing her headlights furiously. I looked at the speedometer. Check. Everything is good. I can see the patrol car sitting in the shade and when I first look, it's pretty well hidden. Then a second car coming towards me does the same thing. At this point, I haven't really given their charity much thought. Further down the road and closer to home, I am on the phone and hang up. As I hang up, I notice another patrol car at a stop light. GREAT I think to myself. This is a notorious spot that some ladies on the local Austin board of BBC (my favorite website) have talked about getting a ticket when only going 2 miles over the speed limit. Why? Because this is in front of a school. But it's not the flashing yellow light time of day. It's about 10:30 a.m. I look at my speedometer again. I'm going 33mph in a 30mph zone. Uh oh. I slow down as soon as I notice the problem and wait for those lights to swirl around. It doesn't happen. Over in the grassy median is the other officer with his motorcycle. Turns out the two of them are chattin' it up. They didn't even have the radar gun pointed at anyone. I seriously dodged a bullet. I've never gotten a speeding ticket...or any ticket - ok, well, there was that one I got on campus years ago for parking without the right permit. But moving violations...I haven't gotten any of those.

The speed traps in Austin are ridiculous to say the least. But keeping things in perspective, I realize that things could have been a lot worse. On the heels of lots of sick kids, lots of visitors in the house and projects going left and right, I'm just glad I didn't have to add this to my list of things to deal with. I love spring, but with it comes a lot of decluttering. With that comes a lot of dealing with stuff that hasn't been dealt with in a while. It's good to get things taken care of, but at the same time, the old saying 'when it rains it pours' is the bitter truth. I like the idea of knowing I'll have a clean garage soon or that the kids' rooms are almost complete or that we'll get to do some shopping for new light fixtures, but getting to that good feeling means going through a lot of yuck in the meantime.

Lent is definitely a time for me to carry my cross more dilligently. I don't always do it quietly and that, in and of itself is my cross. I have to work hard at catching myself when I don't carry it quietly. I try not to complain too much, but sometimes it's honestly just that hard.

I think Lent to a more specific thought will be the topic of my next post. In the meantime, I am just glad someone was nice enough to flash their headlights for me. I'm a huge proponent of paying it forward, so I'll be looking forward to doing something nice for someone else very soon.