It gets official tomorrow!

After a short summer, the new school year is here again!  Just a few short days before the students are back, and I know both Leslie and I are excited to get the year started!

Now that we're getting back into the school schedule, I've been taking my usual route to school the past few mornings, and realized another part of the school year that I've missed this summer... Right in front of the court house each morning, a guard (I'm assuming sherrif, or deputy) helps people across the street who have parked in the lot.  From what I've been able to tell in the two years I've been taking this route, the guards are on a 30 day or so rotation, as there seems to be a new person each month.  It seems to be a pretty uneventful job, but there they are, every morning (starting at about 7:30), rain or shine, cold or hot.

Through all the mornings that I've driven that route, I've come to know my favorite guard, although I don't know his name.  He's one of the few who waves back at me when I wave at him, and he does it more consistently than any other.  As my little red geo approaches, I'm always on the phone with Ryan, I always look over, wave, and he always waves back.  Nothing like creatures of habit, establishing our routines... it makes more and more sense why people resist change; it has almost become such a natural part of my morning, that when it doesn't happen, things seem "off" and up until recently, I haven't really noticed why.

For those of you still awake reading this (I know, a snoozer this evening, but I've managed to get my laptop from school working both at home and at school, so now I can sit in bed, watch my programs, and blog at the same time.. life is gooooood :), there is actually a point to all of this... And it fits neatly inside the "different" scenerio of my morning routine...

I was driving to work one day last week, and there was my favorite guy, waiting on the side of the road for people to cross.  I was approaching, per normal, getting ready to wave.  He began escorting somebody across the street, and the SUV in front of me slowed to a halt in front of the two of them.  The officer stood in the middle of the road as the woman crossed.  On any other morning, he would have walked back to the side of the road, the car in front of me would have driven off, I would have passed waving, he would have smiled and waved back... But not this morning...

When the woman was about a third of the way across the road, the SUV began inching forward.  I thought nothing of it, and continued to think nothing of it when I saw the officer smiling at the driver, but instead of moving back to the side of the road, the officer was moving toward the driver side window.  "He must know this guy," I thought to myself... but only for a second did I continue that thought.  Here's where my morning got interesting.. As I watched the officer, his gate changed, as well as his facial expression.  He was still smiling, but something was very different about his demeanor.  This must be something they train officers during the academy, because it's only officers that I see be able to do this so well... Anyway, he began speaking to the driver (I could hear him through my closed windows).  I'm assuming it had something to do with the "creeping" forward as the woman was crossing the street.  After a few words, he turned and began walking back to the side of the road.

This must have been where the driver thought to himself... "Yeah, I should probably just keep driving, but, it sure would be fun to see what happens if I say something back to this guy," and so he did.  The officer whipped around, walked RAPIDLY back to the car, and had another "discussion" with the guy.  In this part of the conversation, the officer motioned to the jail on the opposite side of the street, and I could only imagine how that entered into this conversation.  It was over as quickly as it started, and there went the SUV.  I found myself a little tentative to accelerate... 

He looked over at me, and we made eye contact.  There he was again, that guy I had come to know so well over the past two years, smile and all.  The only difference this time was that he wasn't waving back at me, he was just waving for me to go ahead and go.  As I drove past, I rolled down my window, and for the first time in two years, spoke to the officer... for some reason it sounded a lot cooler in my head than what it sounded like when it came out my mouth:

"You gotta gettem... "  Huh, what did that even mean?

"Oh yeah," he replied.  I guess he understood, or at least was kind enough to play along.

The point of this story eludes me at the moment, but if nothing else, it's interesting to see the little deviations in our "normal" lives as we go through each day.  It's the little jewels of chaos that make it so much fun :)

In other news, I had a wonderful evening with Emily tonight... we swam, got home, brushed teeth, bounced on the bed, read a book, prayed, hugged, kissed, loved, and snuck out of bed, all how I love it.  It's those moments of "normal" life that I love, much more than the little jewels of chaos.