Seagulls on the back of their very large vehicle

(Pre-script: In order to fully engage your brain and saturate your senses, please go down to the playlist, click on the song," Big Yellow Taxi," then come back and read this post. I'll wait...) (...still waiting...)

There is a new trend in car decorating these past, oh, I'd say 3-5 years, maybe. It's the trend of putting little sticker people representing the members of your family on the back bottom window of your SUV or minivan. I see these and then I know, like "OH, look at that, whoever drives that vehicle has 2 boys and a girl, in that height and presumably age order,and also a puppy. I would have never guessed that just by looking at the car." or "Oh, look at that, whoever owns THAT vehicle has (gasp) Triplet babies! All girls! and a kitten!"

Today, there was a large vehicle in the Safeway parking lot with the family members represented by their neat sticker characters, and these sticker people had names above their heads. At the end, there were two seagulls, each with it's own name. I am sure that the seagulls represented family members who have died, and now they are forever immortalised as seagulls on the back of an SUV. Whatever form your grief takes, get it out. However you need to express it, just express away. Everyone who sees that will wonder, what's the story? What were the lives that the seagulls now represent? Who were these people? They were deliberately placed there by someone who is not complete without them. A family unit does not heal around or fill in the void of the scabby scar left behind. Everyone drives around wanting to be seen. "This is me, this is us, these are the people I am building into, who are building into me. See us?" Everyone wants to be loved, known, and accepted, and vulnerable enough to be loved, known, and accepted. There is a family with their names written on the back of their large vehicle. At the end of the line up of people, there are two seagulls. I know that now. This morning, before I went to Safeway, I did not know that. But I know it now.

-XOXO,

Bumper Sticker Culture

(pre-script: To get the most out of this post, possibly including, but not limited to, a little bit of common sense, go down to the playlist, click on the song "Big yellow Taxi," covered here by the Counting Crows, or "The Boys of Summer," by Don Henley. I'll wait...) (...still waiting...)

"...Out on the road today,

I saw a Deadhead sticker on a cadillac.

A little voice inside my head said

'don't look back, you can never look back.'"*

While driving today, I saw a green minivan with two distinctive bumper stickers. The first one said "Where she is queen, He is king" In the middle was a picture of Mary holding baby Jesus. They both had halo's over their heads. The other bumper sticker was for a Catholic Radio station.

Please let me know if your life has ever been changed by a bumper sticker.

That's all I have to say about that,

For shizzle.

-XOXO,

*From the song "The Boys of Summer," by Don Henley