Driving

Today I had to take an unexpected trip to Boulder, Colorado. Have you ever been there? Some of you have, but others may not have. I personally do not like Boulder. It is incredibly difficult to get anywhere, to park anywhere, or to find anything...at least for me it is. They have cross walks in the middle of the road that flash when someone is crossing the street, and then 25 feet further down the road they have a stoplight. Why people can't cross the street at the stoplight is beyond me. I think I stopped five separate times for people to cross the street and another five times a few seconds after those at stoplights. The word that comes to my mind is "excessive".

Driving through Boulder gave me plenty of time to think and people watch. There are so many people in Boulder, and the variety of people is so broad that you never know quite what to expect. I saw a homeless man on the corner of one of the main streets who looked tired, holding up a used cardboard sign, and appeared to have been wearing the same clothes for days. My heart always goes out to homeless people. If we all only knew how close to being homeless each of us were than maybe we wouldn't look down on them in disgust, or try to ignore them while we are waiting for the light to change. Believe me, I am not preaching by any means. I do my best to help the homeless in my own way, I'm just trying to get us thinking about how we treat those less fortunate than us. At any rate, this homeless man saw a car that was broken down, and he didn't hesitate to run over and help the driver push his car to the side of the road. Before the light changed and I drove away I saw him signal for the guy to pop the hood so he could take a look at the engine.

I saw another lady saunter across the road while at a stoplight. That's something else I noticed about Boulder. There aren't a lot of people in a hurry. Pedestrians know they have the right away and they are confident that nothing will happen to them. This lady was wearing a long sleeved sweater with the shortest running shorts I have ever seen. She had on a backpack with a ragged stuffed animal on the end of a small key chain attached to the side. It looked like it had seen better days, but I wondered how many memories she associated with that little animal. She had on a pair of running shoes and another pair tied to the backpack. She looked like she had all the time in the world as she causally made her way across the street.

Two blocks further I reached the business district where suits and ties were almost required attire. Men with blue shirts and white cuffs, red ties and black slacks casually conversed while walking to or from a building. Women in knee length skirts, pastel blouses and high heels happily chatted away with each other, and I stopped for all of them. In the middle of all the business people was a little family with two strollers and wearing sweats. It looked like they were coming from the park right across the street. I couldn't see any children but I could tell by the way they protected the strollers that they contained precious cargo. The woman looked tired, but happy; the man the same.

It was almost overload for me. I had to constantly keep my eye out for people and make sure I stopped at the cross walks when the light flashed. I had to constantly check for cars to make sure I didn't hit anyone and no one hit me, and I had to make sure I was in the right lane so I wouldn't miss my turns and have to travel back through the streets before I could catch the one I wanted again. Like I said before, it's not very easy getting around Boulder...at least not for me. I had music on in the car that I hadn't heard in such a long time and brought back so many memories. I wanted to sing along with it, but I didn't dare give it my full attention. I tried to sing a little, but I decided it was best for me to be the silent observer. I noticed that I was tense as I drove through the city, which is kind of unlike me. Driving relaxes me and calms me down. Once I hit the highway out of Boulder, though, I began to loosen my grip on the steering wheel and relax more.

I enjoy people watching, both in and out of the car, and it was a little trip that took me out of my own little world and helped me to peek into another. I wasn't in Boulder for very long, less than an hour really, but it was interesting what I saw and what I noticed while driving.