Casual Stripes

On the way home from work I was stuck in traffic, frustrated, and hot because I was dangerously low on gas and trying to conserve by not turning on the air so that I wouldn’t end up on the side of the road waiting for Tom to save me (yet again). I don’t know if it was the fact that ‘Landslide’ was playing on the radio that put me in a sentimental mood, but I see that someone graffitied the words “you are beautiful” on a street sign at the local park district, and all of the sudden I just smiled and felt so much better. I laughed at how a sappy (yet still amazing and classic) song and a cliched statement could have that effect on me. I’ll have to remember to drive by and Instagram that sign soon.

I thought about the kid responsible for defacing public property to write such a nice message, what the intentions were behind the act, and how that message just made my day. I was reminded of two life lessons that I’ll share with you – 1) you can control how you feel by choosing how you react to things that you can’t control and 2) you can totally make somebody’s day by doing or saying something nice, no matter how you choose to do it.