One morning commute

There I was, traveling east on the Eisenhower Expressway, watching the hazy bright yellow sun hanging to the right of the Sears Tower in a morning blue sky. Traffic was slow because of the glare, but the view made up for the snail's pace. As I emerged from under an overpass, there, far ahead on the right just off the highway, were two round images against the skyline. They looked like water towers side by side. They hadn't been there the day before. From a distance, and with the sun in my eyes, I couldn't figure out what they were. 

Coming around a slight curve in the road, the glowing circle of the sun was now below the other two mystery circles and I started to laugh. It was Mickey Mouse's silhouette. The

round face (the sun) and two round ears (unknown circles) perfectly aligned. When I finally got close enough, I saw that the ears were balloons advertising balloons for all occasions. Then I chuckled even more. The balloons were on the roof of a building with an ad for granite headstones painted on the side facing the highway. I smiled at the juxtaposition all the way to my exit.

Waiting at the end of the exit ramp for the light to change, I looked at the red SUV in front of me. The vanity license plate was ISIS with a number. I thought, "Boy, that driver has a strong sense of self to proudly keep an acronym that must have some meaning to them, but which the uninformed person in the car behind can only wonder about." 

So, in a car's length I went from tickled to thoughtful. 

Turning left onto Ashland, the car to my right also turned. Now, that's not a double left turn corner, so I was forced into a different lane than normal to avoid a collision. The other driver seemed oblivious as he went straight down the middle lane of a 3 lane section of the street. Too bad that a pothole that hadn't been in the street the day before was suddenly there for him to experience rather than me. 

So, in a block's length I went from thoughtful back to tickled. 

When I turned onto Randolph where our office sits on the corner, I got the last parking spot on the street. It was a pretty good beginning to the day and quite different from the normal commute that seems so routine that it becomes rote. So much of our lives depends on a smooth routine and such constants can be comforting. In this musing I’m not suggesting we all switch up a routine, just that we be on the lookout for the whimsy that might be present in our daily activities. Such surprises brighten the day and are fodder for a good story.

Marilyn