When You're Stuck In Traffic

I got the original idea from my sister-in-law Diana, and have to tell you I wish I had gotten it over 20 years ago.

I grew up in Illinois, in a suburb north of Chicago. I have been through rush hours in and around Chicago for most of my adult life. They only get worse. I have been on the Dan Ryan Expressway on a day that the White Sox are playing at home. I've been on Clark Street on a day the Cubbies are playing at home. Some of us used to say that there were three seasons in Chicago: Winter, Traffic and Construction (road). I've been on I-90 during an ice storm, and heavy traffic. I've been trying to get through the city on a busy Friday afternoon trying to go east to visit relatives. Believe me, I am unfortunately intimate with most of the bad weather, traffic accidents and road construction that Chicago's asphalt by-ways have to offer us. I used to use the Tollway, as it was once the fastest way to get to work; and even that could be a piece of work at times. You see, at the time I was living in Lake Villa and working at the south end Evanston. It had construction, remember the Deerfield Toll Plaza reconstruction? I spent four hours one winter in a blizzard to go from Lake Villa to the rest stop near Route 60, before I gave up and told my boss that there was no way in heck that I was going to get there in a whiteout. The last time I was down was for a surprise birthday for my mom, and though I stayed toward the northern end of the state, the northern suburbs are becoming as bad as the ones nearer Chicago.

Here's the fun part, and I dare you to do it. Send me your pictures, I'd love to see them!

Put a bottle of soap bubbles and a dipper in your car. I have a small bottle in my car and a larger bottle I can refill from at home. The next time you are stuck in that mind-numbing traffic, wondering how long it will take for anything to move on the road (not the squirrel playing in the trees by the side of the road); put on your favorite tunes, get out your soap bubbles, roll down the window and blow your impatience away. It is such a simple thing to do, but so rewarding to watch those transparent, iridescent orbs floating on the breeze and wafting off to who knows where?

Bless you and yours, be they two or four-legged;

Ruthie