The Wheel Of Fortune

Yesterday afternoon as I was jetting down Hwy 12 westbound, I almost bought my lunch as two cars collided and spun off into the median.  I was, fortunately, in the right hand lane because another car had just been tailgating the hell out of me and I moved over to let that freaking bully get off my butt.  Now, I feel lucky to  have had the chance to get angry and do something about it that may have saved my life.

One just doesn't know what is coming and that is the mystery and the potential cause of fear in life.  We can go both ways every time we take an action.  For me, if I had been in the left hand lane, I may have hit one of those spinning cars head-on or just ended up in the mess.  That quickly, my physicality here on this earth would have been tested and perhaps, ended.  I feel grateful this morning, to have another chance to become complacent.

I am still a work in progress and so as I arrived at my afternoon volunteer gig, I was still there on the freeway watching a split second decision spin before me. Thankfully, the food bank moves fast and so I had many opportunities to move the eggs, fill zip-lock bags with pasta, help a client to her car with her groceries, pet a dog, smell some rosemary growing near the door, joke with another volunteer and ask the young St. Brigid about her last semester of high school.

I also met the new Food Drive Coordinator and congratulated her.  Truthfully, I wanted to apply for the job as the food bank is one of my favorite places.  I did not have the qualifications and yet when I met her very, very young self, there was that stab of understanding that I often have.  I am old now or at least, on paper.  The great jobs often go to younger job seekers.  It is as much an understanding of how that feels unfair as an understanding of the fact that I am getting way too old to be a job seeker.  I dyed my hair for the last job interview and yet I cannot hide the furrows emerging on my Celtic face. 

I am unsure if our new Food Drive Coordinator realized what a coup she just pulled off by becoming an employee at a food bank where clients are not just served, they are loved.  In fact, you can be anyone you are, client or volunteer, and you are loved.  It is an amazingly bright place that offers food to the 650 men, women and children in Sonoma County living with HIV.  It is also amazing because with a small hand full of paid staff, the food bank runs on the energy of volunteers who make the place hum. 

Today, on this golden morning in Northern California, where the chickadees, the resident blue jay and a pair of mourning doves all came to eat seed, I give thanks to the many people in live whom I love and wish them a glorious Sunday in March.  May we all travel in the slow lane this week and appreciate another day of life.