Mini Rant

In general I tend to be a pretty happy person.  I try to be.  I think it is far better to choose joy in life rather than look for or even acknowledge negatives.

BUT

Occasionally there are things that rear their ugly little heads and just drive me to distraction.  These things are typically found when I am driving.  What can I say?  I've never been a very calm driver.  That probably sounds bad.  I learned to drive back east.  You have to drive very defensively back east.  You cannot just worry about you because there is a whole lot of craziness on the road.  Like this one time, I was driving in Providence, Rhode Island and there was a truck several car lengths in front of me with several large appliance boxes in the back.  Something told me to move to another lane.  Right after I did, I kid you not, one of the boxes bounced right out and right where I just had been.  In fact you should also really hold on to your God and do some serious praying while on the road too. 

BUT I digress...

Where was I?  Oh yes.  Today I had to stop at Walmart to pick up a few very needed items.  One - half & half.  Half & half is a must for me because without it, I cannot have coffee.  Without coffee, well, let's just say, mama is not a real pleasure to be around.  Not because I am cranky.  Well, maybe a little bit because I'm cranky, but mainly because I get a headache if I do not have at least one cup a day.  Please don't lecture now.  I know that is not a great thing, but there was a time when I was drinking four...yes four cans of Starbucks little cans of espresso in a day (in addition to several pots of coffee).  I feel pretty decent dropping that down to at least one cup of joe.

Did you see that?  I digressed again.

Let's skip over the shopping list because really it doesn't matter anyway.  Suffice it to say that I went to Walmart for some essentials.  Let us also say that Walmart parking lots are filthy with bad drivers.  One such bad driver made an appearance on my way out.  

Scene:
I am driving along the parking lot driving area (not where the cars are parked but the long lane alongside the parking area where we all travel until we see a section that is not overwhelmed with parked cars).  Coming in the opposite direction was a woman in a white car.  She put on her turn signal and took a left into into a section in front of me.  Did she drive down the section to look for a spot?  NO!  Why do I say no with solid caps?  Because she pulled into the section and made a U turn back into the driving lane area!  Instead of driving all the way down the parking area and back up another side, she just pulled a crazy U turn.  The big bummer was, this faboo driver was now behind me.  I like to keep my bad drivers in front of me where I can figure out my best means of escape when en route, so needless to say, this kind of sucked.  

I was on my way out of the lot and to the main street where the signal light is.  This area has three lanes.  Two lanes that go left and one that goes straight or right (this may or may not be important).  I stopped behind a car at the light and then watched in my rear view as the woman in the white car pulled up behind me and BEFORE STOPPING looked away to the passenger seat.  Once her car stopped she looked straight ahead again.  I cursed my bad luck.  I was really hoping she would have taken the far right lane for a turn.  As we waited for the light to change, I watched in horror as the woman bent way over into the passenger side (like maybe she had dropped her phone) until her head completely disappeared!  Every now and then she would pop up to see of the light had changed to green.  I prayed silently that she kept her foot on the brake and that she would locate whatever it was she was trying to grab quickly.

Finally the light changed to green and we took off.  The two lefts take you to four lanes of traffic again with the possibility for two left turns and also leading to a signal light).  I drove VERY slow in hopes that the woman would go into the far left lane and get away from me (again, because as she drove, she was still fiddling with something next to her).  It did not work.  She was stuck to me like glue.  I couldn't take it.  She would pull really close and then pull way back (by the way I was not under the speed limit any more), she would weave a bit in the lane, and the whole time she kept looking about on the passenger's side.  To save myself from losing it, I finally decided to go to another plaza to the Petsmart in order to get the cats a treat and save my sanity and anxiety levels thus relieving myself from witnessing this woman for another moment.  

It worked.  She continued on.  The birds began to sing, my heart felt light, and a weight lifted from me completely.  I did have to take an unplanned stop, but in the long run....so worth it.  

Okay...rant done.