Sunday Scribblings "Life is Good"

G'Day,
This weeks Sunday Scribblings prompt this weeks asks us to write on the subject"Life is Good"
I am sitting at the traffic lights at the intersection of Yamba drive and Hindmarsh drive. It has taken me three light changes to get to here and I am enjoying spending my waiting time doing some people watching in the traffic on my way to work.
The people in the car beside me are enjoying their wait too. Their car is on my left and half a car length in front of me. The neck of the lady driver is all I can see of her, and her hands. She is nicely proportioned and her soft brown hair is drawn up tightly into a pony tail as she bops her head talking animatedly to her pasenger. They are laughing. She is driving a green Holden commodore, about ten years old, a strong sensible, reliable car. I guess they are in their late twenties. She is telling him a story and using her hands to accentuate the tale, holding them to show the size and shape of something, and waving her hands about in her description, they are happy and their life is good.
On the right hand side of me is a man in his early forties. His hair is cut short and he is thin and pale. I think he has that office worker look about him, but he is not dressed for the office today. His car, a white Mitsubishi magna, needs a wash. He is intent on the lights changing and he is sitting with his hands tightly clenched on the steering wheel. I can see the cords in his hands and knuckles as he grips the wheel. He is impassive in his facial expression but I imagine as he clenches his fists that he is going through his "to do" list and wondering how he can get it all done this afternoon so his day off work is productive, as his time is so precious.
The car behind me is an aging brown Mazda two seater. The lady inside it is probably in her 60's. She has dark brown hair which is perfectly groomed, never a hair out of place and if I touched it it would crackle from all the hair product it contains. Her make up is the same as her hair, perfect and she is wearing red lipstick. I imagine her working in a fashion boutique, she is probably the owner. This is a very attractive woman, one which is confident in her looks and ability. Her face is 1/4 covered by her large sunnies and she looks content to wait and enjoy her music as she sings along happily, she has noticed me watching her in my mirror and smiles back at me. Yes her life is good.
In the far left lane is a man in a Volvo. I watched behind me as he swapped lanes forcing his way across from the right hand side of the road, weaving through traffic until finding himself poll position to turn left towards the hospital. He is stressed, in a hurry. Tapping his fingers impatiently as he waits for the next change of the lights so he can be off and away around the corner.
Then there is the girl waiting behind him in that lane. She is driving a shiny red baby car, a Toyota I think. I bet she is on her way to work too and she turns the corner and then left again into the hospital car park. Then jumps out with her tea packed neatly into a plastic lunch box and runs across Yamba drive for the shift change and nursing handover. She likes her job, and her life is good.
My life is good. Like anyone's. Weathering the storms, riding the crests and troughs of the waves and keeping my head above water.
Bye.
Love Linda.

Sunday Scribblings" Omen and Operation".

G'day,
I didn't manage a post last Sunday but today I would like to combine that last prompt word with this weeks prompt.
I have been thinking about a friend of mine, an old work mate. I will share her with you.
For the purposes of my blog post we will call her Elaine.
Elaine has been on my mind because ...well, she is a long time friend of mine. I have known her for probably 15 years or more. Our children went to school together, and we worked together for many years as well. We still see eachother sometimes for coffee or lunch, though not as often as we would like, and I keep in touch with her on face book, so the miles between us are shortened that way.
She is a pretty lady and is only about 5 ft tall , but her size belies her strength.
I have seen her go through many trials. She lost her first husband to cancer. During those terrible end days of his illness she went beyond me, to a place inside herself that only someone who had gone through such trauma has had to go. Out of my reach she was switched off to many of us in her outside of the moment world. Yet in the following months I saw her not understand the people who judged her and her actions in that grief. Which was not a help to someone who was supposed to have been their friends. They didn't have the flexibility to see that each of us may react differently to that situation.
Several years later I had the privilege of seeing her rediscover love, a new husband who absolutely adores her and had a new child. Yeaaaay all cheer for Elaine!
This was all happening to her with the time of life stresses that bringing up teenagers can bring as well as several nasty other health scares with her daughter, youngest son, and a very recent one of her own to deal with. Is this a strong little lady or not?
Elaine is an inspiration to me.
A few years after her new marriage she became a small business owner and is now doing well for herself. She is sometimes challenged by the pressures of making a business work but keeps progressing through it with fresh new ideas. I am so proud of her.
Some of my favorite memories with Elaine are when we spent time together in my pottery shed and she wanted to make something out of clay.
Another memory with her was when her new husband had bought a little canary yellow corvette to renovate and play with. The day they picked it up she came around to my house and took me lapping the main street in the little car, so funny, especially so as the main street in the town where I was living consisted of probably a dozen shops or less and a couple of pubs, hahaha.
But....my very favorite memory of Elaine and one which always makes me laugh is....
In that small town where we lived you meet many people who have different personalities.
One woman in particular had a not so good marriage.(I wonder why?) Her favorite thing to do was try to flirt with other people's husbands, hopefully, in front of their wives. Well! This woman decided she liked the look of Elaine's first husband at a function one night and decided to try her games out on him, in front of Elaine. Oh I do love this story LOL. Which resulted in Elaine going over to the woman in question and smacking her fair in the face. Hahaha. My little tiny 5 ft tall Elaine sat her on her backside in front of everyone for her trouble. Needless to say the shocked look on her face and resultant sympathy from her friends was most amusing too. The same vixen lady, who shall remain nameless has some sort of weird need to try to upset other women with her games, is that a power game on her part, I don't know. She did the same to me.
But herein lies the two prompt words I am writing about.
Omen; don't mess with Elaine or you may find out you need an operation. Lol.
Love You Elaine.
Bye
Love Linda May.