On My Way Home...

Driving back to the yard at the end of a long work day, I notice a beautiful little coffee colored hand poking out the slightly opened back window of the vehicle to my right, feeling the playful raindrops coming down from the mixed emotional sky.
As I drive through the sun showers, the vivid living green of the trees and vegetation around me beckons to my senses through my raindrop speckled windshield.

At a stop light, I watch a young man in a bright blue shirt on the other side of the upcoming intersection -who's skin makes me think of midnight- jammin' out to a beat on his headphones and enthusiastically singing along.
Several miles later, I glimpse a mousy, middle aged cream colored woman with long graying hair bend over her belongings underneath a tree by the roadside -and she's gone. Passed by on the busy highway...

Another stop light. I see in my rear view a man pulling one of his dogs back inside the window of his truck. Children aren't the only ones enjoying the sprinkles from the sun showers...
Adventurous drops make their way through my cracked window and onto my cheek and neck.
I've worked hard today, their spontaneous chilling kisses are a rare welcome.

Deep purple Clematis' spilling over fences, and irises popping out of their crowded beds greet me as I drive slowly through this elderly section of town. Today, I love it here. People make memories here. People live their lives here.
Things happen here. Life goes on. Peace is here.

I'm dancing and singing along to 'My Girl' on NASH FM as I crest a hill and notice the long lines of vehicles looming ahead of me. It's nearly an hour and a half past the time I normally get off work; I've hit rush hour...

I feel the high altitude sun beating down on me through my window as I drive slowly with the flow. It's a wonder I'm not burnt on my entire left side...
As I watch the long lines of traffic slowly disperse as I continue on, I notice a white bird sailing and whirling high above the roofs and treetops, glinting to be seen in the sunlight.
Without thinking -I roll the window further down -hoping for more fresh, cool air. I then remember the UV protection on the glass, and after several blocks of tolerating the heat's heightened intensity -give in and roll the window back up to a crack.

..."This is My Fight Song..." -at some point, I changed the radio station, and am singing along again as I change lanes to approach my right turn and see a bus ahead of me. In the back of my mind I hope the bus is going straight... I'm weary now, and just want to get home.
As I near the yard, the mountains are in stark shadow under a bright, low blue sky with the rolling, billowing depths of stratus clouds looming above the out of place band of blue.

After arriving at my destination, while trudging to my own vehicle, I smell the sweet smell of flowers -petunias, and look back up at the mountains again, basking in their raw beauty.
As soon as I get in -I grab a handful of pistachios from my backpack to suppress my hunger before another drive -this one to the place I call my home...
I crack the shells open and toss the nuts into my mouth, touching them as little as possible -my hands are still very dirty from my long day of work...

I sing along again, almost all the way home, to Ed Sheeran's 'Shape of You' as I race over the curvaceous, inclining roadway on my favorite drive in town. Then I marvel that another favorite song has come on (two in a row now) -by a female vocalist- while the memory fades as I merge into the left turning lane for my apartment complex...