Sometimes driving through a quaint tourist town in the middle of the summer can try even the most patient of people. I would think that even the Dali Lama would grow tense if he drove through my hometown in July. Today I ask, what would he do? This afternoon as anger burbles to the top, I am desperately trying to conjure up the peace and connection I felt just yesterday as I floated on a pond in a kayak with my dad. The only loud sound there was a plop, when a kingfisher dropped into the water for a bite to eat. Today I rush around getting tiny errands done, little significant things like buying food, that seem to take so much time, and I long for the peace and clack of my computer keys. I did not remember that if I can find a shared connection or bond with all the folks that I grumble at, I will cease to grumble and feel better. I will actually cut them some slack. I often see people who share a common interest acknowledging each other, motor cyclists, postal workers, and yes, I have even waved at fellow Toyota Yaris drivers. I see runners and bikers who pass by each other on their daily trip, wave and say hello. Twelve step members sometimes find themselves friends with people who they would have never mixed with had they not had a common life-threatening disease. Political groups or environmental groups, their numbers bursting with different personalities, bond over a shared purpose. I guess I even have something in common with the person who just stopped in the middle of the parking lot without warning, we both evolved from a bacteria cell almost 3 billion years ago. Maybe that is the only connection that I can conjure up today for the parking lot extraordinaire. I kind of like thinking of them as bacteria.