Hi, all. Just a thought to help start your weekend.

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you meet yourself coming and going? Most of us do at times. We have schedules full of self-imposed deadlines, events, meetings, yard work, etc. Life gets hectic. But we make it through those days and keep right on going.

The very busy intersection you see in my picture is right in the heart of Paris. Of course the traffic and directional signs are all written in French, so they were not readily discernible to us. However, I never once (in Paris or here at home) have seen a traffic sign to describe what you see here. You can easily see vehicles of all sizes going at least three different directions all in the same place at the same time.

This was fascinating to me, because even those large tour buses were squeezing through the oncoming traffic to make their way across this crazy intersection. As far as I could tell, it was well organized chaos. Yet, the drivers of these many vehicles didn’t seem fazed by it at all. It was their ‘normal.’

Some people experience a “normal” very similar to this traffic. Perhaps your week can be described, too, as well organized chaos. Yet, you get things done and arrive where you need to be. For others, a “normal” week would be a scene quite the opposite of this one, in which the days are entirely too quiet, the traffic too sparse, and the hours too long.

As you run the ragged race set before you in the week ahead, just be aware that what is “normal” to you can be frightening to someone else. Take the time to love on your neighbors. In the middle of that crazy traffic scene, we pedestrians still had the right-of-way at the crosswalks, and all traffic from all directions stopped to allow us to pass.

The world may not stop to allow you to get through your days, but walking together, hand-in-hand if only symbolically, certainly makes crossing those crazy roads much easier. May the crazy traffic in the roads of your week ahead part and allow our journeys to be a good one — together.

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.