Back it up!

In my daily life, I try to determine what things I can let go and what things I need to confront.

I'm sure you're dealing with it too. Do you let your child whine forever (since they're unusually tired) or do you nip it in the bud? Do you let the kids wrestle in anger or do you separate them? Do you go return to the store to get that bottled water you paid for & they forgot to bag or do you let that $0.72 go?

We're all confronted with these decisions every day. Which ones do you face head-on? What makes you decide?

Today, I was faced with one of those situations. One of those situations where I had to decide if I was going to confront it.

The Bear and I had finished our lunch and were on our way to pick up the Princess. We left a parking lot area and got onto the main street. We then headed to the nearest left turn lane. We were the second ones at the light. It's a four lane road (2 going north and 2 going south). I had to make a u-turn, so I made sure to stay to the right on the left turn lane. I sat there about 10 feet behind the guy in front of me. Suddenly there's movement to my left. My left? There's a green Ford Expedition a little ahead of me to the left. What the heck is that guy doing?

Decision time!

Yes, I had to decide if I was going to ignore this man's ignorance that it was a one-lane left turn or not. Hmmm... What would YOU do? La-le-la-la. La-le-la. La-le-la-la-la-la-la-la. La-le-la-la. La-le-la. De-de-de-de-de-de-de. Time's up!

Of course. You can guess what I did. I confronted him head on!

I inch my vehicle forward. I navigate so that my window is parallel to the front passenger window of the Expedition. What do I see? Some big 50-ish man chomping away on a cigar. [Sigh] I look over at him. He notices the movement and looks to his right. He sees me. I open my window. He opens his passenger window.

Me: This is only one lane.

Man: Oh, I couldn't tell that from back there.

Me: [Smile. Close my window. Face ahead.]

I'm done with the conversation. It's his call. What does he do? He pauses for a second. A bit of indecision. Then he backs up and gets behind me.

Maybe next time he'll pay attention when he's driving. It's not like there was heavy traffic and he couldn't see the lane lines. They are EASILY seen on this stretch of road (they just repaved it and repainted a month ago). So he had no excuse. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. for being in that lane incorrectly.

His car may have been twice as big as mine, but he doesn't get to hog the road. Nope! Not on my turf!