Finding Hope -- Under The Bridge

There have been some times recently when I have been feeling pretty down about stuff.

I don't really have much to feel down about but sometimes... I just feel as though I am being pulled in a million different directions... It is hard to describe why, but with all that is going on across the seas and here in our own communities, I just feel as though the world is a pretty tough place to be in.

It is in these times that I start looking for things that give me hope in the world or things that make me happy.

It hit me as muh wife and I were driving up a major interstate on an extremely rainy Saturday morning that there are breaths of hope the entire ride there. As we booked along at 65 miles per hour, my windshield wipers were going crazy shoving the offending water off the windshield. It was tough for them to keep up with the downpours and ice rain, but the wipers of a Buick are a powerful thing.

I kept wondering to myself if the wipers would have been able to keep up with the rain if it weren't for the bridges that we kept driving under. For a split second, the wipers were given their own reprieve from the crappy weather and pushed nothing out of the way.

The bridges offered the windshield wipers hope...and gave them a chance to be strong. The bridges also offered me hope in an otherwise bleak day. It seemed as though the weather wasn't going to improve and our trip was going to continue to be a driving nightmare... but every once in awhile, I found a glimpse at a quiet place - where all was quiet in the world -- even if it was a slab of asphalt in Somerset County.

Sometimes, it is the small things that we take for granted... sometimes it is the small things that bring us peace and joy.

I then began to think of other small things that make me happy and bring me hope in the world...further identifying that small things are really what are important in this world.

1. Reading a good book.
2. Watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy - extended versions.
3. Driving muh wife to the store where we break up with lists and meet back at a spot in order to save time.
4. Going to the supermarket with muh wife while we deliberately go up and down every aisle looking for stuff and killing time.
5. Watching ebay auctions during the last 12 hours they exist.
6. Having the ability to use a remote control to change all the entertainment options...never having to get up except to pee.
7. Having left over hot dogs that I can eat at lunch the next day.
8. Maxim, Stuff, FHM and Entertainment Weekly magazines.
9. A Fat Koko
10. A foccacio bread sandwich from the Main Street Trattoria

Other times... it is just hearing or seeing things happen that remind me of the order and place of the world.

1. Driving under a bridge in the rain.
2. Smelling the cooking from neighbors' houses when I get home.
3. Getting lost in a good book.
4. Hearing the garbage truck come down the street
5. Seeing a smoker standing outside in the freezing cold.
6. Glancing over at a picture of muh wife
7. Hearing my wife breathe as she sleeps.
8. Getting into bed with the cold sheets, snuggling up and letting myself warm the sheets all around me.
9. Watching an old woman cross the street.
10. Staring at the stars in the countryside.