Green Beans on the Interstate

Yes, I meant to say “green beans on the interstate”.

I was minding my own business, zooming in and out of traffic, of course singing to the top of my lungs, as countless others minded their own business and zoomed all around me. As any good and faithful, upstanding, skilled people watcher would, I found myself glancing over at fellow zoomers. Some held phones to their ears, half watching traffic while they wholly socialized with a longtime friend. Some even text. (Shame on you!) Some touch up their lipstick or straighten their hair. Some use two hands to light up and take the first drag off their Marlboro Light, driving momentarily with their knee. Some drop hamburger condiments onto their business suits after the first juicy bite; then scurry to find the napkins that may or may not be in that Wendy’s bag. And some eat their green beans…cue vinyl record needle scratch. Yes, I looked over and one lady was straight eating green beans…with a fork…driving on the interstate. Needless to say, she got two glances, as opposed to the typical one glance courtesy most fellow zoomers get.

I immediately stopped the top-of-my-lungs duet with the radio and began to ponder what the bloody hell would make her be in such a big hurry to not just take an extra ten minutes before she left home and sit, while not zooming, to eat her green beans. Is she that important that she would halt the earth’s perfect rotation if she didn’t leave at that exact moment in time? Were those green beans the only nutritional source capable of sustaining her body? Was there nothing more simple, less messy to eat while zooming? I mean, what? What made her choose green beans? Say she actually did just order those through a drive-thru window in order to make a more healthy food choice than the typical yummy, divine, manna-from-the-gods French Fry; what made her think this was going to end well? Green beans certainly have juice that HAD to have dripped on her during all the zooming. Green beans are notorious for falling off a fork, at which time said bean would land on her clothing creating continued problems with the previously mentioned juice.

Thank goodness my girlfriend, who-doesn’t-know-I-exist-in-the-world, Ashley McBryde, came on the radio and her soulful, moving musical tones interrupted my reverie on that fellow zoomer’s food choice for the day. The top-of-my-lungs duet with my girl was back on again, just as if no one had ever dared to eat a green bean while zooming up the interstate.

The only thing I learned from this lady is that I want to learn to stop and smell the roses…or should I say…stop and not zoom while I eat green beans. Slowing down some in this crazy life is okay folks. =)

Chuckling as I sip coffee and think about green beans. ~paula