Monday, June 13, 2011

One step forward, two steps back...

...to laugh at yourself.  Yet another really, really, really important lesson that I (and you, if you want to keep your sanity, or insanity, whatever your fancy) must remember.

A very smart person recently shared some simple wisdom with me the other day, which is to take a step back and laugh at yourself.  At the time, I was like, yah, sure, duh.  Like, I don't need anyone to remind me of that, I already know and find humor in all situations!  No, I don't.  I do need the reminder.  Which is why I'm writing it down here, so we all can remember.

For example: (oh yes, there is a fun story that goes along with my little words of wisdom!)  Today, I was crossing the street in Ballston, (oh, Arlington and your poorly-marked one way streets, 7-way intersections and non-blinker-using drivers) mind you, I was crossing at a crosswalk, where cars are supposed to stop for you, but not only that, it was a 3-way intersection with all-way stop signs.  As I started to cross, a car decides to speed up towards the stop sign, fail to stop, and almost (and when I say almost, I mean not even close) run me over!  I promptly yelled out to the car and his passengers, luckily the windows were down so they could hear my little fit of crosswalk rage, "STOP SIGN", pointing and rolling my eyes up towards the sign...well, you can imagine my fury when he just kept on speeding away!!  How dare he disobey the rules of the road!  And, c'mon, the simplest one of them all!  One that 2-years olds (and I know this for a fact) even know the meaning of!  A giant red octagon means STOP!  HELLO!! (can you hear that sarcastic tone in my voice?!?)  Well, I threw one more evil eye his way, just to make sure he could see how enraged I was (like, if I had a milkshake, it would have been all over his back window à la Election) and stormed away through the street, huffing and puffing, fully ready to pull out my phone to dial up the traffic police and....wait a minute...could this...could this be one of those step back and laugh at myself sort of situations??  Maybe, just maybe...

So needless to say, did I need to get that upset about some stupid driver who can't read a stop sign?  No.  And it's not my job to point out such obviousness, especially since he will probably get what's coming to him in the form of some blue lights flashing in his rear view.  No, not my problem at all, so here I am taking a step back and laughing at myself.  Please feel free to laugh along with me (or at me).


Things I'm thankful for today:
People who are smart and make me smarter
Free gym
Easy workout
Beach camping
No work this week
Nice weather
People who are funny and make me laugh!

Have a thankful day!

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