Spread Some Cheer

Will someone please explain this scenario to me?

I am driving in the morning with a minivan full of kids. We’re on a road inside a strip mall and waiting to turn left into where else? You guessed it, Starbucks parking lot. I am in the left of two lanes. All of a sudden, an obnoxious man in a very expensive luxury vehicle lays on the horn behind me. I am waiting there because there is oncoming traffic in the lane I need to cross, but I’m sure I didn’t need to tell you that. He could go around me, but won’t and apparently does not see the other lane next to us both. So instead, he blares and beeps and makes a huge scene out of a mom and her three kids under 5, trying to safely get everyone around town and get the blood flowing with a little caffeine.

What was this guy, and all the other guys like him trying to accomplish? I couldn’t help but think that this was a true sign of the season at hand – it’s like a buzz you can feel in the air – stress levels and blood pressures are rising. I’m sure that guy wasn’t a bad guy, I’m sure if confronted with the chubby youthful cheeks and baby blues of my three kids, he would have felt pretty stupid indeed. Hopefully he would’ve mostly felt the need to chill out, take a breath, to not be in such a terrible hurry.

I kind of hope he figured it out on his own, you know? I am not immune to the stresses of the season and have had my own lapses in judgment. On Black Friday, without thinking, I grabbed my cold cuppa joe and dumped out of my door in a parking lot and was instantly ashamed. Some poor person pulled in after me and probably stepped right in the puddle. Ugh. It seriously was on my mind for the next couple of hours. I won’t be doing that again.

So here’s to remembering to slow down this season, to give everyone a smile, to let them cut in front of you in line or on the road. Here’s to making the holidays merry for everyone and spreading some cheer as far as it can go.