Lane Changes

On my way home from the rink this morning a boy-man was tailgating me on the Eastbound 62. It's a two-lane highway and I was in the inside lane. I was going 5 miles over the speed limit and this was not  a sufficient speed for the young man in the red Toyota--so he waved his arms and honked at me. Mildly flustered, I made an effort to change lanes to allow him to move past me, and in the process nearly cut off another car that was going about the speed limit. Now I had two kindly Minnesotans (studied in good-naturedness) on the verge of road rage.  In the past, this kind of road altercation would leave me adrenalized and upset, but nowadays I move past that stage pretty quickly and into the gratitude stage. Thanks, guys, for helping me wake up. You reminded me that I need to know my own truth in every moment, even if it's on the freeway trying to go (more-or-less) the speed limit and change lanes.

Other lane changes.

I had two arguments with my daughter this morning.  The first was when I asked her over a bowl of fruit if she was eating enough. I worry a bit because she went vegan this past March (though she hasn't come out entirely to her friends about this) and she chooses, for the time being, also not to eat refined sugars or foods that aren't made from whole grain. And she is an athlete, skating a minimum of three hours a day, plus some other forms of working out.  She snapped back at me: "Mom, stop bugging me about my freaking eating habits. If I'm hungry and I need to eat I know how to ask you to make me something." We looked at each other.  Enough said.

The second argument was when I dropped her off at the rink. I won't relate the full story except to say that when we were negotiating pick up times she implied that perhaps I wasn't using my work time efficiently. I did not take kindly to this and retorted in a not very loving way. We parted, but later, amazingly, she apologized and I did too. And we talked about ways we could avoid such an interaction that led to both of us feeling lousy. A real "lane change."

Early this evening we made a trip to the local Trader Joe's in St. Paul. Did I mention how much I'm enjoying (my admitedly limited experience of) St. Paul? On our way home we stopped at a frozen yogurt place (recall that my daughter is a vegan and doesn't eat dairy). She insisted that I try the yogurt (which I did). We then walked around an area where we saw a homemade ice cream store and cafes and bakeries and where she insisted I try the ice cream. Her enthusiasm for these food places, especially the cupcake place down the street, was unimpeded by her choice not to eat any of the offerings. It was really quite sweet to see her gush over the homemade ice cream cones and cupcakes beautifully decorated.  

Cone selections at Izzy's

Peppermint Bon Bon--the Izzy Scoop.

By the way, lest you think that I only eat miniature ice cream cones, recall that I had a large frozen yogurt not 30 minutes before these pictures were taken. Izzy's Ice Cream--it's fantastic!

Captivating Cupcakes

A sudden downpour