My commute to work sucks.

It doesn’t suck because of roadwork, or a road that NEEDS work. It doesn’t suck because it’s choked with air pollution or that it’s an exceedingly long drive. It doesn’t suck on account of the view or a particularly narrow and windy path.
It sucks because people are in a hurry and there are way too many of them.

I drive through school traffic the second I leave my driveway. There are four literally on top of me, and Kings Academy on one route I take to get to the highway. If I go Boyds Creek I contend with another school. There is no way to win. Every. Single. Day. I contend with tailgaters and road rage. I don’t care to tell you I travel 10 mph over the speed limit and I always have at least one car during my journey following so closely I cannot see their headlights. It’s often I’m not even the one holding up traffic; I’m in a long line of travelers just trying to get there. It gives me major anxiety and I honestly don’t know what to do about it. There are limited places to pull off the road and let them pass, but what good does that do when there’s another one blasting up through there to take their place? I don’t know the solution. There is often a county cruiser sitting at {the former} Dr. Bradley’s or at the old stockyard but I assume they have a hard time differentiating between people following placidly at their pace and the jacklegs who came flying around three or more cars to get that far ahead. It’s infuriating and dangerous. They put my heart in my throat and I just want to get out and give them a slap worthy of Scarlett O’Hara and a speech channeling Julia Sugarbaker. They clearly have no respect for human life to drive like that. I find it’s the same ones every day. I wonder if their momma knows. I wonder if they got it from her, or their dad. These people look to be all ages. I wonder how they’d feel if it was their best friend in the car they’re so intent on passing.

Anyway, on to this morning.

So I’m sitting here (in traffic, it goes without saying I’m ALWAYS in traffic) in downtown Sevierville in front of the bank. {If you don’t know which bank you’re obviously new here}. I was trying to breathe normally and unclench my grip on the steering wheel and remember that I love Sevier County, and the mountains, and most of the people, and thank God for Dolly Parton.

And there’s this bird.

She’s splashing in a big puddle made from the irrigation the bank has to water their landscaping. It’s right at the road, at the entrance into their parking lot. The blinding morning sunlight is bathing this bird as much as the water and she is having a big time. She’d duck under and flip up and water droplets flew like Queen Elizabeth’s diamonds through the air. She’d fluff her feathers and the spray was wondrous. There was another bird sitting in the grass on the edge, awaiting her turn. The puddle was big enough for both of them, I don’t know why she didn’t join her. But soon, another bird flew in. And another. And another. Soon there were six little common gray starlings flipping and preening in that one dirty mud puddle. Common and dull colored, yes, but it was miraculous how gorgeous they were and it transformed my vision on this morning. I was so disappointed I didn’t get a picture (it wouldn’t have been anything special though, I don’t have the ability to transform ordinary scenes to gorgeous photography like some of my friends and family). I felt momentary sorrow for the birds, that all they had was this very public drainage puddle to get clean in, but then I remembered the river, and it’s just right there, and plenty of little streams and ponds around. Maybe the birds were sent here to lift our moods and show us something beautiful in a very public place. Maybe they liked being exhibitionists and the center of attention for this moment in time.

The light turned, cars begun to roll forward, and the birds flew away. I wondered if anyone else enjoyed the scene as much as I did. I wondered if the birds came back when the light turned red again. I hope I get to watch them again next week. And I hope that I remember this moment each time somebody makes me lose my religion in traffic again.
I didn’t get a picture of the birds, but I did get this picture yesterday morning leaving Bojangles. It brightened my morning, too.

Deep breath.

You just gotta take what you can get.
We’re lucky there’s so much to get on a regular day around here.