“So I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign. I said thank you lord for thinking about me, I’m alive and doing fine. Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs. Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind. Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” You know, truthfully I’ve never really been a big believer in signs. You know, the type of signs that many people might see in life and determine for themselves that a higher power is somehow telling them that this was meant specifically for them. It could be a rainbow right after a bad storm? Perhaps narrowly missing a bad traffic accident? Or even an old flame contacting you out of the blue after many years? No matter what that sign is, people like to believe what they want to believe right?
So today is the 4th of July, and I am now officially moved into my new residence, right on the Arkansas River overlooking both the river and downtown Little Rock (yep, a hell of a view). And what emotions I have now are so far removed from what I was experiencing a year ago during this same holiday weekend. My view then was a parking lot looking into another apartment building. And my view on life at the time wasn’t much better either. I had just been dumped, my billing was down about 30% because of covid, and I had yet to meet any of my soon to be new friends. Those same new friends that in the coming months would make me realize that not only would I survive this temporary downturn in life, but maybe that it was a sign that possibly better things would indeed be ahead for me?, that maybe it was all for the best? Needless to say that I had moved into that little apartment a year ago because I needed something fast, and so my options weren’t exactly abundant. And whatever signs that there may have been for me at the time of my self-misery, I either wasn’t looking for them, or may have just been too afraid to look for them (hell, the last thing I needed was more bad news).
Which leads me to the “sign” that I experienced yesterday. I had just stopped at a red light right down the street from where I live now, and to the side of me was a jovial gentleman (who could have passed for Kenan Thompson from SNL) in his maroon Dodge Ram, with a huge smile giving me a thumbs up. My first thought was he’s probably giving me his approval for my truck (which still does happen from time to time)? But as the light changed and we drove off in our completely separate ways, it occurred to me that yes, that perhaps maybe this was indeed a sign for me? A sign that the dark periods that I had to go thru and experience this past year are finally over (at least for now anyways)? And that as much of a roller coaster that life can be at times, that now it’s my turn to enjoy the ride back up? So whether he was actually giving me the ‘thumbs up’ because of my truck, or he was placed there at that very exact moment in time, at that very same exact place, to give me a sign of hope and to tell me “you’ve survived it, now enjoy the ride”?, I want to thank him for thinking about me. Because I am alive and doing fine!
Well you know I’m a big believer in signs, and I love this!
Hello James
Speaking of signs… yours was one for me and a reminder to be open to them, thanks.
First, the lyrics you quote and the band that created them, Five Man Electrical Band, was the song that first caught my attention as a mid-teen and the first band I saw live in concert in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, up here in Canada. I was thus hooked on music, especially that which had something to say. This song speaks volumes for those times and these times. Intolerance of differences seems rooted in many of us.
Second, sorry for your low times and congratulations on what reads like good times, now and in the future. The other thing that caught my attention was you are living in Little Rock which we stayed in on a trip from Dallas to Nashville. We were treated incredibly well after our rental car lost a few undercarriage bits driving through a flood on a side highway.
So what about signs? In my opinion, it is what the mind, especially the unconscious mind, interprets from the obvious and not so obvious observations in our environment. We survive as a species by having our minds unconsciously scanning our environment to identify danger and elicit a flight or fight response. I think we have evolved to identify opportunity signs as well. But, when we are stressed we are more likely to see the danger signs and in less stressed times more likely see opportunity signs. Signs then are a matter of interpretation, kind of like the saying “if you believe that you are able to do something, or you believe you cannot, you are right”, it is a belief either way and is a good predictor of the outcome.
Thanks again for the reminder and good luck going forward.
Alan