The Tale of the Angry Soccer Mom

The other day, I was merrily driving the UrbanToddler to a park for a play date, when suddenly we came to a road block. There was a local run and a combination of police and local soccer moms were redirecting traffic.

As I was stopped at a stop sign, and my GPS was telling me to take a right turn, a mom started pointing at me and vigorously waving her arms, directing me to take a left turn. I pulled down my window and said "I am going to the so and so park. The GPS says that its to the right, can I take a right turn?". In my reply, her two arms went into a most intense waving, and she shouted "Take a Left Turn, the park is down there".

I took the left turn, but decided to park the car and walk the mile left to the park in the direction that my GPS was telling me to go. As I walked by the soccer mom directing the traffic, I smiled and said "the GPS says the park is up there." Her eyes widened and she said, "Well, I told you to go left because you were trying to run me over!"

With my blood in a rolling boil, I kept on walking towards the park which was clearly ahead of me.

So much of life is not what we expect it to be. A sweet soccer mom could zing you for no reason. You can be accused of things despite your good intentions. Your sweet toddler could throw a colossal tantrum and even pick her nose with both hands in front of proper company, despite all the love and patient instructions she receives. Your loved ones could disappoint you. Your own healthy body could throw you for a loop. And you wonder how much of this is different from the reel of life in your head...

But then, you stop and take a second look. You can walk away from the soccer mom with the zingers and still have a fun play date at the park. Laughing about the incident with a lovely fellow mom. You can show compassion to your toddler for what she may be going through, despite your own feelings about what "terrible" things she is doing at the moment. And that same body that failed you, still allows you to hold your little girl and carry her for blocks if you need to. At the end of the day, a man who didn't know you your whole life, and came into it just by random chance some eight years back, could hold you tight, look into your eyes with the most sincere look, and say "you are lovely"...

... and no matter how much I want to say to myself this is a hard, terrible world, I can't. I still manage to fall head over heels with this life of mine. Full of gratitude for the blessings that make the hard stuff seem O.K.

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