Some days the bear will eat you, some days you'll eat the bear

And some days you are the bear.

Today I was trying to make a left turn at a light without a left turn arrow. I had been sitting there through a couple of light cycles and on the third round, the cars on the other side of the intersection all decided to let me turn first. I was watching them so intently that I didn't notice pedestrians approaching the crosswalk. As I (slowly) turned in to the crosswalk. the pedestrians had reached my car. One young man started screaming at me, his face red, neck veins bulging. "We're in the crosswalk!!!!" He yelled over and over. I had already stopped. Through my open window I kept saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" while he kept yelling and getting redder. Then, an even younger man - a teenager - with long red hair and Viking horns rolled on his skateboard past the red-faced man, smiled sweetly, gave me a thumbs up, and said "Have a nice day." I gave him a smile and thumbs up and drove on, thinking.

A perfect example of two people responding with different emotions to the same situation. At the moment, it seemed to illustrate, on a micro level, the world of strife. Each of them had a choice. One responded in anger and one with compassion. If only more people could be like the kid in the Viking horns on the skateboard. You know, like me.

I drove a few blocks. As I sat yards from the next crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross, I began to remember times my face turned red and my neck veins bulged as a car started through a crosswalk I was in. When thought I might be run over and fear turned to anger. Or, I was just feeling self-righteous about the inconsiderate jerk who didn't respect MY RIGHT OF WAY, even if I never really was in any danger.

So, my little epiphany isn't that the world is made up of either smiling, Viking-hatted skateboarders or bulging-veined screamers - but that people have the capacity to be either on any given day.

There are two kind of people in the world. Those that think there are two kinds of people in the world and those that don't.

In the garden today

The crosswalk epiphany - along with a weekend in the garden - inspired me to pick up writing this blog today. It was a surprise that my last post of a year and a half ago was about the song Georgy Girl and today I read the news that Lynn Redgrave, who starred in the movie, died yesterday. Rest in peace Georgy Girl.

I didn't do anything in the garden today. I did spend most of the weekend pulling weeds and turning soil while listening to past episodes of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me via the NPR app on my i-Phone. All the while, planning my plots. Crop rotation time. Corn will go where the tomatoes and peppers were. Peppers where the peas were. Already in are lettuce, snow peas, and sugar snaps.

There is a healthy volunteer sweet pea climbing the wall, spreading as many out tendrils and vines as three or four plans would normally do. All shooting up and expanding from one fragile little stem. It's in a spot notorious for the most spectacular volunteers.

Every year the garden prep gets a little easier. And every year there are surprises.