I was at the grocery store one day last week, as usual, when I noticed a woman exiting the store looking straight ahead. The exit leads straight into cross traffic. Granted, the traffic is supposed to stop to let shoppers cross at the crosswalk. I never trust the crosswalk. People in parking lots drive like homicidal maniacs. I fear for my life every time I’m in a parking lot. People seem to be in the worst moods ever. Most people really should use InstaCart. If shopping makes you that mad, just say no. Anyway, this lady just breezes out the door and into the parking lot like she is walking along a garden path. She didn’t check to see if there were cars coming, much less if they planned to stop. Then she meandered her way to where she had parked. Cars were everywhere! They were trying to back out, they were trying to pull in, and she never looked at one of them! She just looked straight ahead. Cars were slamming on brakes in all directions. I winced at least three times. I was certain she was going to get hit before she made it to her car. At the very least I expected cars to hit one another in an effort to avoid hitting her. No accidents occurred. She made it to her car and that was that. I was just astounded. Did she even realize what had happened? Did she know that’s what would happen and she just didn’t care? Don’t you sometimes wonder what makes people do some of the things they do?
What about the loud talkers? Mark and I seem to always get seated next to a table of loud talkers at restaurants. Everyone is seated at a table, enjoying the company of family and friends. There is no need to shout. The people with whom you are seated are very close to you. They can hear you without you having to use anything above a loud whisper. Yet, we will end up sitting by people who will speak as if they were a football field apart. And they are never people who will have happy dinner conversations. We have overheard some of the strangest things ever, and we never wanted to hear any of it. I try not to make any eye contact with loud talkers, but Mark will sometimes give them dirty looks in an attempt to quiet them. I think it might just get us killed. These are clearly the same people who drive like homicidal maniacs in the grocery store parking lot. It never works anyway. They are usually too absorbed in their own doings to notice anyone else.
Emily is particularly fond of people who seem to be “unaware of themselves” at times. She is referring to the people who will be in a crowded location and just stop to look at something, not thinking about the fact that there are a whole bunch of people forming a line behind them because they need to keep moving forward. We ALL do this, but maybe not Emily. She is hyper-aware of being aware of yourself. She won’t let people congregate in the hallway of our house and only four people live here. We have to keep the traffic flowing. She would really like to issue citations for “lack of awareness in social space.” Everyone would get a ticket. Even pets.
It takes us all to make the world go round. I always tell Emily that when I am old I am going to wear tennis shoes only. No matter what the outfit. I love tennis shoes. I usually dress up, so I rarely get to wear tennis shoes, but I do love them. I have many pairs of them. But when I am old, I will have two pairs- a white pair and a black pair. Which pair I choose will depend on my outfit. Emily hates this plan. She always points out the cute little old ladies with sweet pink flats or trendy boots. I just tell her which color of tennis shoes I would wear with their outfits. I even told her I would wear tennis shoes to her wedding. With panty hose. Do I have any intention of really doing this? Who knows? I might just need those tennis shoes to dash across a grocery store parking lot looking straight ahead!
