Reprieve

It’s been incredibly hot in Texas this summer with temperatures regularly reaching over 105 degrees. I’ve started walking at 5:30 in the morning to try to avoid the worst of the heat, but it’s still over 80 degrees at that time. This morning it was so hot and humid that I saw a cicada lying on his back, slowly pulling himself across the concrete to the sprinklers going off in the yard across the street. But even worse was the other cicada holding onto his wing too drained to even make the attempt.

999 Piece Puzzle for Sale

My mom has been on a mission lately to put together all the puzzles in her closet. She said she’s trying to verify that none of the pieces are missing before she sells them or gives them away. So far, she’s been incredibly lucky and everything was accounted for…until this last puzzle. She got 999 pieces into it only to discover that the last piece was gone. She searched everywhere for in case she’d dropped it or the dog had decided to put it under the couch cushions to jack with her. After it didn’t turn up, she contemplated making a piece out of cardboard to fit the empty hole. When I asked her why, she said she needed closure. She couldn’t sleep knowing there was a puzzle out there with a missing piece. I told her to cross out the 1000 on the box and put 999 instead. Then, she could market it as a feature or a challenge, if you will.

Foot in Traffic

This afternoon, I was passed by a man in a pickup truck. He had his window down, and his shoeless foot was hanging out of the driver’s side window. He had blue and white superhero socks on, and his foot was bobbing with joy or perhaps to the beat of the music. For some reason this made me laugh. Maybe it was how whimsical it was. Maybe it was the carefree nature of the man…or maybe it was the nature of his foot only. Maybe the man had no control over any of that. Maybe his foot had a spirit all its own. It’s funny what will make you happy when you’re having a rough day.

Tree Encouragement

I was driving home this morning, and as I got near my house, I was rounding a curve in the road. All along the curve, there were small trees planted in the median in the middle of the road. As I passed them, I noticed that the trees were waving in the wind. It gave the impression that they were encouraging and cheering me on. I heard whispers of, “You’re doing great!” and “You’re almost there!” and “You can do it!”

It’s like when you hit the home stretch in a race, and you can see the finish line. You’re spent. You’re not sure where you’re going to find the energy to make it to the end. And then there are people lining the route cheering you on. You are filled with a burst of adrenaline, and you push through to the end. It was nice to know that even the trees were on my side this morning.

Temperamental GPS

I was talking to my mom today, and she said, “I was coming from some place and going somewhere.” And I told her, “I certainly hope so, why else would you be in the car?” She laughed and said, “That’s not the point of the story.” She continued that the GPS told her to take this road, but it was blocked by an accident. The police officer had her take a detour, but the GPS kept trying to make her make a u-turn and go back. For two miles, the GPS kept trying to make her turn around until she finally just turned it off. When she turned it back on, hoping that it would map out a new route, it immediately told her to take a u-turn!

This got us talking about how funny it is when people talk to their GPS, like it can hear them. I told her that I do that all the time, and my son always asks who I’m talking to.

This one time, the GPS told me to turn right at a stoplight, but I was stuck behind some cars. When it was finally my turn, there was quite a bit of traffic on the crossroad. The entire time, the GPS was continuously saying, “Turn right…turn right…turn right.”

I told her that I was trying to, but there were cars in front of me. When she persisted, I held the phone up to the window, so the GPS could see the car in front of me. When that didn’t deter her, I also showed her the cross traffic whizzing by. There was a pause, and I thought I’d finally managed to get through to her. Then, she said, “Turn right.”