Carpool Lane

 
Do you ever feel like you belong in the carpool lane? Because when you think about it, there's you and then there's your alter ego cartoon you in the car.

I've always felt a strong affinity for Wonder Woman. She can fly, she has great hair, she rocks a great costume, and when she appears - people notice. Whoops, I guess I'm only batting 500 here. My point being......I've stumbled onto some karma, some aura, some flirtatious vibe of popularity and my hair has been pretty great too.

When I was sporting that black eye I had 2 guys chat me up at Caribou. My BFF, the blonde beautiful girl next door, even said she doesn't get that much attention over coffee. I chocked it up to freakish curiosity on their part. Then at WalMart, the cashier dude talks me up and steps out from the register and personally loads my bags of Cheerios, rotisserie chicken and fresh strawberries into my cart like a Boy Scout? Hhhmm, I'm thinking....that's nicely weird?

And now the old dude from the dating site, that showed polite sympathy for my stupid accident at the Mall of America, turned out to be a great first date. His profile picture looked like Jerry Stiller on a bad day, no not Ben, but Jerry. So I washed my hair and hoped for the best. Well once I sat down face to face with him I could see there was nothing old and decrepit about this guy. He was a very young 51 and the more we chatted the better looking he got. Funny how that goes. And by the end of our second date I was starting to feel that Wonder Woman vibe a lot stronger.

Ah, but this morning as Gizmo and I were walking in the early morning hours, I tried to flash my brilliant smile at the hot neighbor that was jogging past but somehow he didn't see the fine hair (under the warm hunting cap), or feel the flirty vibe (from my hot pink scarf), or even the XXL costume peeking out (from my down jacket). It dashed all my secret plans to trot alongside him and discover if he really was Superman or just Clark Kent?

One of these days I'm going to take that carpool lane and fly as fast as my car can take me....'cuz there's no wondering about this woman. Just like Wonder Woman I'm on a mission "to bring the Amazon ideals of love and peace to a world torn apart by the hatred of men." Or something like that...... Happy New Year!

Mall of America - Next Right

I took an interesting trip at the Mall of America recently. Literally. I tripped on a rug and fell face first on the floor. I don't often fall, in fact, I'm super cautious and very aware of my surroundings since I'm often walking the dog in the dark and in all kinds of weather. But still I ended up on the Mall floor with a Technicolor black eye.

It got me thinking about how often we duck when trouble is headed our way. When you're falling and the floor is coming fast - there's no time to duck. I'm one who likes to duck. I'd rather take cover and avoid pain thank you. Controversy? No sirree, you can have it. But somehow trouble always seems to find me. Just when I think I've got time to stop, drop, and roll -- I trip and get a faceplant instead.

Who wants trouble? Each day has it's own worries so I don't want to borrow trouble. We're all going to trip, right? We're all going to fall or fail or screw up. But what's more important ----where you fall or how you get up?

I'd like to think that when 4 pairs of eyes are hovering above you asking to help that how you get up is key. Thinking too much about losing face isn't going to bring you back on your feet. You need to catch the view from the floor and determine you want to be upright at all costs. If a few strangers can help you back on your feet than don't be proud - take the help and determine to pay it forward.

I was distracted when I tripped, I'll admit. Those guys that wear the skinny girl jeans? How do they do that? I said to myself, as I followed the guy wearing the skinny girl jeans into the Mall. So take my advice don't duck and avoid every mishap just determine to get back up in a better place.