My Traffic Sign

Writing Prompt Series: What traffic sign best reflects your life right now?

Did you know there are more than 500 different federally approved types of traffic signs in the U.S? 

Overkill? 

With the way some people drive, probably not.

We need the guidance and warnings because the daily drive is never a straightforward, uninterrupted one. No, most of our journeys are winding roads with elevation changes and potholes. 

The NO U-TURN signs are forcing us to move on from past mistakes. There are DETOUR signs of a relocation, divorce, or cancer. BUMP signs are signaling jarring news that will test our strength. YIELD signs are encouraging us to take a backseat and put the needs of others ahead of our own. There are ROUNDABOUT signs that highlight the monotony of the daily grind, and UNEVEN PAVEMENT signs that alert us to fix our unbalanced priorities.

Then, there are the SCHOOL ZONE signs. The attention-grabbing, flashing ones that indicate the sudden drop in speed. When you shift from productively cruising along to the pace of a golf cart moseying to hole 9. When it takes all your energy to perform a tap dance of brake and gas pedals to maintain the appropriate speed while being on high alert for juvenile pedestrians. A place where the juxtaposition of urgent hare-speed schedules and tortoise-style traffic can be felt.

This is my current zone. 

I’m in the middle of it–in the literal sense. Two different middle schools, with two different sets of clubs, programs, and extracurriculars. Old enough to be involved in many things, yet too young to drive themselves to the things. 

The lights on the sign are constantly flashing, urging me to slow down and pay attention because these treasured moments will be gone in a flash as well. A reminder that the highway speed of life is too fast anyway.

As I creep past my SCHOOL ZONE sign, an image of a sign across the pond near my sister’s village comes to mind. Those folks just have a better way of saying things.

“DANGER CHILDREN”

Yep. Children are dangerous. Beware, they might change your life in the best way.

How about you? What’s your current traffic sign?

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