The second happiest moment of my day was when I walked to the post office and had to stop at a railroad crossing and watch a long train barrel by. I don’t know why, but that train horn accompanied by ground shaking thunder from the engine as the train cars rumble on the tracks makes me happy every time I see one.
I stopped on the way back and watched a few silly squirrels chase each other up a tree, they seem so happy. Looking at humans walking by you would think the world was a horrible, depressing place, so instead I look at everything else. Beautiful plants in bright colored pots outside a local shop, two fluffy brown poodles laying beside their owner as she eats her lunch, flowers, trees, shop windows, little kids in sundresses, and sunshine.
I cussed during my drive while out running errands, it is funny how I go from nice to foul mouthed in just a few moments when in traffic. This weekend I was peopled out, so I stayed home and went nowhere. Nowhere is inaccurate, I went to my living room, kitchen, yard, barn, shop, bedroom, guest room, front porch and back patio, all places where no people were to be seen. I enjoyed my dog’s snorting and happy looks, watched a hummingbird drink nectar, laughed at the squirrel party on my front porch as they discovered where I store birdseed and listened to my 2 baby Giant Jersey pullets sing or chatter. They were noisy, but they were also entertaining. Baby bunnies running in the front yard, a lone turkey talking to my hens, a 7ft long rat snake sunning on the concrete behind the shop, butterflies, and birds, so many birds.
From a distance I can hear jumpers about to break through the clouds on their way back to Paraclete and I eventually spot them once they deploy chutes. No talking, no cussing, no driving, no electronics, no stress, just peace.
When I was a little girl I went on many Sunday drives to picnics, lakes, ocean, Sonics, to see Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, friends, and family. Those drives were pleasant and fun, no cussing, no people cutting you off in traffic, no yelling, no bumper-to-bumper traffic, no idiots speeding around you or banging your tail in hopes you will drive faster. Those places we visited, they were not crammed with loud, obnoxious people, in fact, most groups tried to stay apart from one another respecting space and each other. Except for my cousin, Cory who was always hanging around singing at the top of his lungs and snapping his fingers. He was such a great kid and always had a smile and a story.
I’ve always liked small towns, they usually have less traffic, small shops, fun places to explore and less people per square mile. Where have they gone? More and more they are being overtaken by larger cities and crowds of people, all packing in and ruining what could be peaceful. Sunday drives are over. Small ice cream shops and fun counters in rural areas are closed and have been replaced by Walmart. Farm fields once blooming in unison about to create cotton, squash, tomatoes, and other necessities are now neatly lined rows of brown vinyl sided houses that have their garbage cans touching some imaginary line so that the HOA doesn’t send the squad out to paper you with a nasty fine.
Houses in small country areas are often painted in pretty, soft yellows, greens or blues and have flowers, trees, pots, and pretty yard décor visible. Try that in today’s HOA governed world and you get fined and receive hate mail, they dislike any sort of freedom or individuality, dress right dress, don’t be different, line up little sheeples and don’t let grass grow in your cracks!
I think city people have gone too long without a sense of freedom and it has permanently stamped them with a propensity to hate anyone or anything that does not look, or act just like them. No minds, all matter.
While watching that train today, a woman yelled that I “was too close and if it derailed, you'll be sorry”. I really wanted to yell back, you are missing FUN and one day will look back and understand what sorry really means. I’ll take my chances.
Back to the peopled-out thing, I really am. I smile and nod to strangers and I am nice to coworkers, but the truth is, I am peopled out. I am to the point that people get on my nerves. They whine, complain, turn the heat up, turn the heat down without asking, toss paper towels on the floor next to the garbage can, park in handicapped spaces when not, they want you to think this, or think that, don’t do this or that, they act in greed but expect you to be generous, they do awful things to others and act the victim when people no longer respect them, they are in a hurry always without consideration to others. I could go on and on but that too is whining. I watch coworkers sneak into offices to snag candy when no one is looking and laugh because they a few minutes prior were “off sugar” and can’t have a cupcake, as if no one knows.
It is all so absurd; we are all feeling the same things. Most of us are growing tired of the rules, regulations, the restrictions, the silencing, costs, problems, the energy expended pretending as we go about our weekly routines. I now nod instead of challenging something I disagree with simply because it is easier and doesn’t waste energy. No, I don’t agree, but I pretend like I don’t see you in my mind as a tiny person with a large idiot head.
On social today, people are arguing over gas prices, who caused them, finger pointing and screaming you did this or that, you, you, you, Trump, Biden, blah blah blah. The divisiveness in our country will be its own demise. We are all in trouble. All at the same time with the same issues. I, however, think a deserted small town, that my friends and I can fix up and self-sustain sounds pretty good. Close out the screamers and issues and live quietly ever after. But that didn’t work in that M. Knight Shyamalan movie, did it?
For now, I encourage you to look at things a little differently. Enjoy the damn loud train and count cars, celebrate the enormity of it and the speed at which it travels. As you drive home, find one positive thing about each property you see. Ignore the “people” and focus on the positives. When you arrive at home, sit in your car a moment, and just look. Take notice of the small things that are peaceful, colorful, alive, and good. And for goodness sakes, learn to nod instead of challenge, save that energy for the positive things.
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