I took a walk this morning. It's a nice quiet time to be alone and enjoy my thoughts. It's a good outlet compared to my crammed, stressful thoughts during the work day. So I walk and think.
I came up to an intersection at the same time a car slowly approached. Being the nice person that I am I hate to make other people slow down and at times I walk behind a car. Pedestrians have the right of way and I know you cannot trust that. How many people get hit downtown when drivers should be driving less than 30 m.p.h. because there are so many parked cars and walkers?
As I walked behind the car that had now stopped for the stop sign, my thought at that moment was, "What a nice color. Some kind of dark red blended with maroon." The driver was a young man. I don't know how young because I assume everyone is just very young compared to me. My next internalized thought was, "Wow, I had a crappy rust bucket for a car when I was young." And I reveled in my old memory of a $300 used Chevette that allowed me to complete my student teaching during my senior year of college.
The guy shouts at me: "I'm sorry!" He really yelled. By this time I was behind his car heading for the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Why would he apologize? His window on the passenger side was closed so I made a hand motion that I wasn't concerned.
He rolled down the window and repeated his apology again with an explanation. "I am so sorry. I was texting. I shouldn't text."
I didn't think of it. I didn't see his head down. I really wasn't looking at him. I was looking at my walking path and making the decision to walk behind the car so he didn't have to wait for me to cross. There we were, two people in our own worlds coming to an intersection.
He apologized. I said, "Don't worry, I was walking behind your car anyway." He said, "Have a happy fourth."
So, there you go. He was feeling bad for texting as he approached a stop sign. I really had no intention of crossing the street in front of him whether he was texting or not. I was defensive walking. We learned in driver's ed about defensive driving. We just happen to go through life with defensive living. And if we are pleasant about it, we end up pleasantly surprised at times.
I continued on with my walk and was approaching the Dunkin Donuts. A car was left running and I assumed the driver was inside getting his coffee fix. I live in a small city where people feel comfortable enough to leave their car idle and rush into a store. It's not legal in NY, but some people do it anyway. He must have continued on with his day, in his car. There were no police cars when I came back.
I then walked past a house where two men were outside looking tense. One man said, "She must have my keys and took it." The other man was using a cell phone. Again, a cell phone and a car.
Before my walk was over I crossed paths with a man leaving a convenient store. He had an energy drink in his hand. He looked happy to have just purchased a cold soft drink since he appeared to be walking rather than driving and a walk can make you thirsty.
My last part of the walk takes me through a strip mall near my house. One of the businesses is a gym. Work out music could be heard since the door was propped open. Gym members were jogging past me as I headed down my street. No running for me today. I was happy to get two hill climbs on my walking route.
Have a great day.
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