A sign written in the rocks

Another old column, this one from 2008. One day, I'll plan this blog site a little better. But, you know, I get busy doing other things. Enjoy.

     We all look for signs as we go about our daily lives. It comes from a basic distrust of our own instinct, and sometimes all we need is a something to lead us in what we perceive is the right direction. A nasty cough could be telling you to give up those cigarettes. Or perhaps the proverbial lipstick on a collar leads you to leave a mate. Who among us hasn’t asked the Creator for an indication of what to do?
     Signs relieve us of responsibility and places our lives in the hands of fate.
     The signs I look for are the ones telling me that no matter how messed up the world may be, there is something to confirm the basic goodness of mankind. A smile from a pretty girl, a complete stranger who lets me merge on to the freeway, or a parking space close to the store are all minor reasons to celebrate, and too often we let these signs dissipate into our stressful days.
     This is where Janet and Russ come in, because people who care about them have transformed road signs into a metaphysical marker.
     I don’t personally know Janet and Russ, but they make me smile every time I drive to the transfer station in Tijeras or into Albuquerque. I don’t know their last names and, really, it isn’t important information. I like to think that Russ and Janet are a couple, but I can’t say that.
     Both old Route 66 and Interstate 40 through the canyon have warning signs telling motorists to watch out for falling rocks. Some of these signs have the silhouetted illustrations of a large rock getting ready to smash a car. All of them have a small rectangle sign simply warning “ROCKS.”
     Someone, I’m thinking it might have been Russ, attached a small white plywood rectangle above one of these signs so that it now says, “Janet ROCKS.” To those of us born after the Kennedy Administration, saying that someone rocks is one of the greatest compliments — it means that we are deserving of a seat at the cool kids’ table. It means we are relevant.
     Someone cares for Janet and wanted to let her know as she commutes to town.
     Sometime after I noticed that Janet ROCKS, I discovered another road sign stating that “Russ ROCKS My World.” I’m assuming that Janet scribbled this with a marker, but really, I don’t know if was her.
     I do know that Russ is one lucky guy. It’s one thing to rock, but quite another to rock someone’s world. Put it this way: it’s one thing to love, but quite another to be loved.
     Both of these signs got me to thinking about the people I care about and what I do to show them how I feel. Hollywood has taught us that the only valid gesture of affection is a grand one. And those are fine, but who has the energy to maintain that, and flowers can get expensive. There are many small things we can do for our loved ones to show we care, such as scrape the ice off the windshield in the morning, take out the garbage, give a back rub, keep the kids away during a weekend nap, return the videos to the store or do the grocery shopping.
     And there are many things my loved ones do to show they love me, like when my father buys breakfast or when my wife just looks at me like she did when I asked her to marry me. These are signs that I rock someone’s world and it humbles me.
     So while at least two people tell us through simple acts of vandalism on road signs about their feelings for Russ and Janet, we learn that love still exists and showing it isn’t that difficult.
     Thank you Russ and Janet.