Be nice!

I was driving around Whole Foods parking lot yesterday, two kids in tow, looking for a parking space. I got super excited when I spied a space right next to the handicapped spot by the door, as we've been having some FRIGID weather lately. Tackling Whole Foods with kids is always somewhat of a challenge, throwing in sub-zero temps makes the experience that much more fun! This space had one of those signs that read, "Reserved for patrons with small children" in front of it. Fantastic! I have small children. I was about three spaces away from pulling in when, as happens so often in that parking lot, a car appeared out of nowhere. It came around the corner from the opposite direction and sped in to the space before I could get to it. Needless to say, I wasn't happy! I pulled up closer to the car and mumbled under my breath, "There better be a *%&#ing child in that car!". Out ran the driver, a woman, sans children. She quickly scooted to the entrance as I sat, blood boiling, thinking, what do I do? Toot my horn? Block her from going in? Run her down? I pulled around, hand on my window control button, preparing to completely lose it on this woman, "Damn it! This window is not going down quick enough!", and in she went with her carriage, completely oblivious to the wrath that was just a moment away from being put upon her.

I drove around the parking lot, blood still boiling, found an open space, got the kids out of their car seats, walked them to the door, got them situated in a carriage, and in we went. I was on a mission! I was going to find this dark haired lady with the pretty blue hat if it was the last thing I did. I felt myself walking at a pace that was not usual for me when I visit Whole Foods. Probably a pace similar to that of a marathoner! This woman's face was etched in my mind so clearly, had she been a murder suspect that I was describing to a police sketcher, she never would have gone free. I paced, and breathed, and paced, and breathed, nothing. A few more aisles of pacing and breathing, and still nothing. Eventually I felt my pace slowing to the more familiar browse mode, and my boiling blood was now just barely a simmer. Rational thinking was coming back, "Okay, I'm not going to seek her out, but if I happen to run into her, I'm going to explain to her nicely why that wasn't the right thing to do. After all, I certainly don't want to make a scene in front of these kids". We finished our shopping trip and when we left, I saw her car was gone. Not even a chance to leave  a note on her windshield. The opportunity was gone.

As I drove home, I began to feel grateful that my window didn't go down just a few seconds quicker, that she wasn't standing right there, in the produce aisle, when we entered the store and that I never spied the lady in the blue hat. I felt extremely grateful that the opportunity to become someone I definitely have no desire to be, did not present itself. I even remembered a time when I had done the exact same thing this woman had done, thinking I would only be a few minutes in the store and convincing myself that the three empty car seats in my back seat counted for something. They didn't.

In those life moments that we all have, when our blood is boiling, and our minds are racing so fast we can barely think straight, and we feel we are entitled to behave however we see fit because we've been wronged, it really pays to just stop. STOP. Breathe, pace, cry if you need to, but don't become that person. That person that you will always regret you became when the moment passes...and it will.

"Does my speech carry the language of love and compassion?" - Thich Nhat Hanh

xo,
Carrie