What's Your Sign?

Signs.  Have you ever noticed they are all around us?  Park here, don't park there, turn here, no left turn, enter, exit, school zone, Hog Liver Road (seriously) and on and on.     Are you a sign reader?  My daddy is.  He reads every single sign as he drives or rides by.  Just ask my kids.  They'll tell you.  He just likes to practice his vision and reading skills and it drives us CRAZY.

Every time I think of that word, "sign," my mind goes back to the lyrics of  that song; SIGNS . . .  "and the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply."  I'm not sure who sang it or what year it was released.  And I must confess I'm trying mighty hard not to open another window and find out all that valuable information.   You want to know, don't you?

If the sign says, "No Parking" does that mean YOU?  Yes, you?  I know people who think it means everybody BUT them.  I won't mention names.  I confess. I do what the sign says to do. Well, most of the time.  OK, you know sometimes I go above the recommended driving speed.  But if the sign says, "do not pass while solid line is right of center line"  I don't.  And if it says "no parking"  I follow directions.  Well, maybe not. 

I was late.  It was for a job interview in downtown Atlanta.  After circling the block for a second time in search of the entrance to the parking garage I finally spotted it. Or at least I thought so.  Relief flooded over me as I pulled into the ramp leading underground.  As I reached the bottom of the ramp there was one of those THINGS.  You know, a SIGN.  And the sign said, as the song goes, "MONTHLY PARKING ONLY".  What was I to do?  I mean, you can't exactly back up an entrance ramp and if I did how would I ever back into traffic on Peachtree Street?  Backing up did not seem like a wise choice.  So, being my late self, I paused, looked around saw a million other cars and plenty of parking spaces.  I mean, how long can a job interview take anyway?  Who would ever know I was there?  What was the process for an unknown car?  How long would it actually take them to find my car and realize I was, gulp, breaking a rule?

Wouldn't life be easier if there was a sign every day telling us where to go and what to do?  Heavy sigh.  That would be so boring, maybe easy but boring.  Come to think of it, we do have signs every day telling us what to do.  They may not be in neon or shaped like an upside down triangle.  Usually they don't flash red or green telling you to go or stop.  They are, however, very important.  Pay attention to them.  Sometimes they change when you're not looking.

Oh, and I made it to the interview on time.  They validated my parking and I was successful at leaving the parking garage without sirens and flashing lights.