Because of a Stoplight

We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.

Anais Nin
US (French-born) author & diarist (1903 - 1977)

I can't drive. I mean it, too.  I've had my permit for two years and I am no closer to getting my license. It's actually okay, because I don't want to drive. I survived high school with my parents picking me up and my friends driving me places or just meeting me at my house. I've never really NEEDED to drive. I still don't. 

Friday night I went with some friends to a Day of the Dead celebration and because of traffic it took us a long time to get there. We drove during rush hour. While trying to find the parking garage, we needed to make a left turn. My friend put on her blinker and waited at the stoplight. The car behind us, a hick guy in a truck, began honking the horn and wouldn't stop. My two friends and I began to get really annoyed and didn't know why he was honking at us. Finally, we realized we couldn't make a left turn. If you Google search "no left turn no u-turn" you will find one of the signs I am talking about here. Realizing this, we immediately went straight. As the truck got into the other lane and drove by, he gave us a thumbs up. We had gotten the message that he had been trying to tell us. Feeling so much better about it, we made it to the garage. 

The celebration was really fun, but it was more American than Mexican. There were food trucks and some cool art galleries, but really the interesting part was seeing everyone in their freaky costumes. Pirates and skeletons and normal people like my friends and I who didn't dress up oh my! I also got to eat a coconut ice cream bar dipped in chocolate with nuts on it. It was absolutely delicious. 

I really enjoyed it, even if it wasn't very cultured. There wasn't Mexican music or Day of the Dead bread, and the food wasn't even really Mexican, but my two friends did promise to take me to a Mexican restaurant. However, throughout the night I was reminded of the words of Anais Nin. In the case of the truck driver, we saw the situation as we were then, but it turned out to be not what we saw. I'm thankful for that. That he was trying to help us and not just be a jerk. And it gave me something to write about! 

I also got interested in who this woman, Anais Nin, was. So I did some research and found out that she has a website dedicated to her memory: http://www.anaisnin.com/

She is best known for her diaries in which she writes about the identity of a Cuban woman with mixed French and Danish roots as well. She also writes about her love life and contributed much to feminism in America after she emigrated from Paris, France where she spent most of her childhood. She is a very fascinating woman.