Normally my commute looks something like this:
But this afternoon it looked more like this:
What's really sad is that today started out as such a nice day. TRAFFIC was light this morning; I balanced the office books to the penny; I hired much needed help for my billing manager; I ate a spectacular lunch at Aldino's (I've never seen such large ravioli!); and I had a good meeting with the owner of a computer company. Better still, I was eagerly anticipating the best part of the day, 5:30 pm when my dad would be delivering my new washing machine and dryer! Since I was so excited I left the office at 4:55 pm fully expecting to arrive home by 5:15 pm, blissfully unaware of how irritating the next 50 minutes of my life would be.
Normally my commute is very pleasant and the longest it takes me to get home at the end of the day is 23 minutes (yes, I'm so anal that I timed it.) But not today, nope today there was TRAFFIC and lots of it. The kind of TRAFFIC that turns me into a raving lunatic. You know what I mean right? I mean West Coast TRAFFIC in San Antonio. Snarled, barely moving TRAFFIC on the one day I needed to get home by a certain time. Now we all know that I'm an emotional girl (cough, cough) and I've been known to make "snippy" comments when frustrated (surprise, surprise) but it is rare that I completely lose my temper in front of other people. Unless I'm driving in TRAFFIC with nameless nincompoops who cross into MY lane while trying to dial their cell phones; or who drive 45 mph in a 65 mph zone, bless their hearts; or stop at yield signs - why?; or sit through perfectly green lights, um there's only one color green on the stoplight people!; or tailgate me when TRAFFIC is crawling, as if there was somewhere I could go! Hello, don't you think I'd go faster if I could, I don't want to be sitting in TRAFFIC either!!! There must be a special place reserved for tailgaters..... Sorry, got off on a little tangent there. Anyway, I could go on and on. Driving in TRAFFIC literally drives me out of my mind. (Of course I'm perfect and have NEVER done any of the things that drive me nuts.....)
But hey, there's something therapeutic about being able to "say" what I'm thinking without any immediate or obvious consequences. My car is the one place where I can vent about all of the frustrations in my life, not just the jerk reading the paper in the next car over, and then leave it behind when I arrive at my destination. My car has become my very own padded room, with air conditioning and really cool music to boot.
Ah, but the reality is that displaying a raging temper while driving is not very Christlike. Yep, I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't flip someone off like I did last week (blush) and I'm even more sure that he would not be uttering the words favored by sailors, and me (!) when I'm stuck in TRAFFIC.... He'd probably teach an amazing parable involving the tiny burgundy Saturn sandwiched between big ole' honking Texas trucks. But I'm not Jesus so I'm still trying to figure out how to keep my road rage under control. Until then, may you never be forced to ride with me in TRAFFIC unless you're prepared for a show. My name is Robin, and I suffer from road rage.
Normally my commute is very pleasant and the longest it takes me to get home at the end of the day is 23 minutes (yes, I'm so anal that I timed it.) But not today, nope today there was TRAFFIC and lots of it. The kind of TRAFFIC that turns me into a raving lunatic. You know what I mean right? I mean West Coast TRAFFIC in San Antonio. Snarled, barely moving TRAFFIC on the one day I needed to get home by a certain time. Now we all know that I'm an emotional girl (cough, cough) and I've been known to make "snippy" comments when frustrated (surprise, surprise) but it is rare that I completely lose my temper in front of other people. Unless I'm driving in TRAFFIC with nameless nincompoops who cross into MY lane while trying to dial their cell phones; or who drive 45 mph in a 65 mph zone, bless their hearts; or stop at yield signs - why?; or sit through perfectly green lights, um there's only one color green on the stoplight people!; or tailgate me when TRAFFIC is crawling, as if there was somewhere I could go! Hello, don't you think I'd go faster if I could, I don't want to be sitting in TRAFFIC either!!! There must be a special place reserved for tailgaters..... Sorry, got off on a little tangent there. Anyway, I could go on and on. Driving in TRAFFIC literally drives me out of my mind. (Of course I'm perfect and have NEVER done any of the things that drive me nuts.....)
But hey, there's something therapeutic about being able to "say" what I'm thinking without any immediate or obvious consequences. My car is the one place where I can vent about all of the frustrations in my life, not just the jerk reading the paper in the next car over, and then leave it behind when I arrive at my destination. My car has become my very own padded room, with air conditioning and really cool music to boot.
Ah, but the reality is that displaying a raging temper while driving is not very Christlike. Yep, I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't flip someone off like I did last week (blush) and I'm even more sure that he would not be uttering the words favored by sailors, and me (!) when I'm stuck in TRAFFIC.... He'd probably teach an amazing parable involving the tiny burgundy Saturn sandwiched between big ole' honking Texas trucks. But I'm not Jesus so I'm still trying to figure out how to keep my road rage under control. Until then, may you never be forced to ride with me in TRAFFIC unless you're prepared for a show. My name is Robin, and I suffer from road rage.
