The Great Divide

We finally made it.
My thoughts are torn between relief at our long awaited arrival, soothing my cramped frame that has transformed to fit the shape of the passenger seat, and trying to figure out how the Seattle girl fits into life in a place somewhere in between the boonies and small town novelty.
Lesson #1 came at Wal-Mart as I aimlessly wandered through the aisles of overstocked commodity and the most people I’d been in contact with in four days. I could swear it was the glare of overhead lights showcasing the “Half Price Sale on Beenie Weenies” that blinded me from seeing him, but I guess maybe being from Seattle I wouldn’t realize that some towns have strict codes of conduct when it comes to navigating Wal-Mart’s sacred aisles of selection. I was quickly informed by the older gentleman that HERE the elderly ALWAYS have the right of way in store traffic. Even, it appears, when you have to stop 5 feet away and wait for them to shuffle past. Ashamed that I didn’t know this and a little intrigued, I found myself studying the unwritten codes of foot traffic. It appears that the elderly are given a wide berth, followed by mothers with children, then all other women, and finally men can have their stand-off to determine who will pass first. I don’t remember walking in a store to be so complicated. Did Seattle have these kinds of rules?? I don’t think so. I think we were all so hurried and focused on the destination that we perfected the ability to be aware, yet unaware. We navigated through and around one another while juggling our steaming cups of coffee, closing a real estate deal with the person walking next to us, or chatting up more minutes on our cell phones. It was a chaotic precision. Everyone got where they needed to be and avoided debilitating blows with shopping carts, being trampled by sprinters trying to catch a bus, and squealing tires.
It’s not to say which is right, but it just goes to show how my world and this world will most certainly collide.