The Four Way Intersection 2-4-10
Up the road is a four way intersection. No main road here but two well traveled country roads Mansfield City Rd. and Brown’s Rd. There at the intersection they meet with all travelers having to stop. How many look about and note the two house that stood on their respective corners for 200 years or more, or the other two houses one nearly as old. They have watched the intersection change from the cart path traveled by oxen and horse to the busy short cut between two main roads and the shortcut from one University to the other. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! Cars race through barely hesitating. I stopped the other day third driver to arrive nearly simultaneous but I was paying attention and waved the other two on in succession and began to think. This intersection is a lot like my life. It is busy with all kinds of traffic. It goes from one place to another always connected but never going anywhere. Well that’s how it feels many a day that I am the hamster on the wheel and running the same circle. Some parts of me feel rather old, some invigorated and fresh like the bright new siding on one of the four houses.
I work at four different jobs and more if you count barn chores at home and a family, which is plenty of work there is just no paycheck for, it pays in heart dividends. Then I have my storytelling which is a growing business and I am working very hard to make it successful. I have my random days of subbing in the local high school, often in the Agriculture Education dept which is like going home. I am the town cemetery sexton which is a interesting job that pops up in a as needed basis. I do some announcing jobs too, they are more seasonal and always fun.
I realize I need to come to the intersection take time and stop and look around, not blindly pass through. Finish one project and take that moment, evaluate and appreciate before stepping on the gas and moving onto the next. I plan to use that intersection as the physical reminder to stop and slow down and enjoy each day and project. The rat race only sucks you up if you are willing to race.
