Slow Down

Yesterday on the way to pick up Jeff from work, I was stuck in a HUGE traffic jam. It wasn't on the freeway, it was under. And I was so frustrated that the 'KSL traffic and weather together every ten minutes on the nine' didn't say anything! I was sitting there with NO WHERE to go for 35 minutes. I even tried calling the radio station a couple of times to complain but couldn't get through. As I got to the accident, turns out they closed ALL 3 lanes going Westbound (on 4500 S) and where slowly diverting everyone to side road heading north. Once I got on the new road, I pulled off into the Wendy's parking lot and called Jeff and told him he'd have to walk the 3 blocks to come meet me, b/c I couldn't get to him.

It was a horrible car wreck that ended with two totaled SUV's. The Dodge Durango had flipped and it took a long time for crews to get the car right side up to get on the tow truck. Ambulances, Fire trucks, and about a dozen police cars fixing the situation. The other car had a completely smashed bumper, air bags deployed. As I pulled into Wendys, that's when I saw the two little children, probably 2 and 4 patiently sitting on the super small strip of grass by the Wendy's and the busy intersection with their diaper bags, toys, and a huge pile of other belongings from the car. The older one was a boy and the younger a girl. They were quietly waiting, and holding hands.  I felt so bad for being so upset about the awful traffic, nothing on the news to tell me to avoid the area, and how I had to wait for Jeff to walk. My kids where already cranky and screaming from sitting in the car so long. And here was a mom and her two little kids with a totaled car, talk about a bad day. I had gone to the grocery store, and still had cold string cheese in my bag. I got out and offered some snacks to their mom for those good quiet obedient children. They happily took the snacks. Hopefully that made their day better. And made penance for my grumpy mood when I had no reason for one.

There I was angry about traffic and having to wait, and there was a little family that just had a very bad day.  It's okay for us to slow down. And remember to be sympathetic to the reason/cause of the bad traffic. It didn't ruin my day to have to wait, just a little stress from unhappy kids, but in comparison to their day, nothing.