Bumpers On The Side Of The Road – Yes, this is a Grrrr. . . Moment ☺
/Do any of you have pet peeves? You know, that one thing you find particularly annoying? I’ve been wanting to write about this even before I had a blog to post it on. Do you ever drive down the road and see a random bumper sitting on the side of the road and wonder – OK, they towed the car away, but they couldn’t take ALL of it?!!!! By the way, someday I want to know who “they” are? But that’s a post for another day. ☺ Anyone who knows me has heard me say “Grrrr” when I’m annoyed or frustrated with something. Today’s post is one of those Grrrr . . . moments. You also need to know I’m writing this with a happy heart, because there are worse problems in the world than this “First World Problem”. And I am happy and blessed that I have the freedom to drive down the road whenever I choose to leave the house, which hasn’t been very often over the past couple of years!
I know this is a silly topic, but it is so confusing to me WHY there are so many random bumpers left on the road side? So much so that I called my friend whose son is a Utah Highway Patrolman, and asked her if there is a law or something that prohibits tow trucks to take the car and leave the bumper? She did some checking and got back with me. She told me the tow truck companies are indeed supposed to take the car and any pieces/parts that have broken off – INCLUDING the bumper that fell off!
I don’t know why, but this reminds me of when I would ask my kids when they were little to pick their things up and put them away. Invariably there would STILL be things lying around AFTER they assured me they had picked everything up and put it away where it belonged. Or to find a sink full of dirty dishes only minutes after I had spent hours scrubbing the kitchen until it was spotless. I remember repeatedly asking them, “What little fairy do you think is going to come and magically do these things?” I’m sure this question annoyed them as much as it annoyed me to have to ask it. Can any of you relate, or am I the only mom out there who dealt with this on a daily basis? When I see bumpers on the road, I picture myself and the tow truck driver having this same conversation? I want to ask them, “Who do you think is going to come and clean this up?” Then my mind wanders to the subject of, “Someone could make a good living if they could figure out a way to make something from abandoned bumpers.”
When I started my blog, I started taking pictures of these sad, lonely bumpers on the side of the road if I were quick enough to see them and pull over in time. What I discovered, is that many of them are not in safe places to pull over and get a good picture. Otherwise, this post would be filled with bumper pictures! There seems to be a recurring cycle that stray bumpers end up sitting in places that aren’t safe to pull over, which is probably why there was an accident in the first place. This might be a science-fair-project idea?
The first thing I think of when I see one of these bumpers is that someone had a bad day, I feel bad for them and say a little prayer hoping they are ok. The second thing I think of is having that conversation with the tow truck driver, asking him who he thinks is going to clean that mess up? ☺ Sadly there doesn’t appear to be a “Highway Patrol Mom” out there to take care of this problem. If there were, we would not see any stray bumpers on the road. That mom would stop and have that mess cleaned up and organized by make, model, and car color no matter how tired she was!
You may be asking what does all this silliness have to do with LIGHT? Well . . . actually nothing other than in this time of stress and uncertainty in the world, I hope it gave you a little chuckle. Even in times like this, we can find reasons to smile, and smiling allows LIGHT to shine out from us upon others. I often think of this quote from Marjorie Pay Hinckley in Grrrr. . . situations like bumpers on the side of the road. “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”
I hope you have a wonderful day, and the next time you see a bumper on the side of the road you can say Grrrr. . . say a little prayer, and then smile!
Love Ya, Les ☺