Signs, signs... everywhere the signs

I haven't been posting my usual suggestions of words that ought to be deleted, basically because I am lazy, and also because none have offended me that badly as of late ( though 'ocelot' came damned close once).

At 7:30 this morning (and yes, this was on a Saturday) I awoke to make the long drive to Vancouver, BC. The reason for this quarterly trek is, believe it or not, because my prescriptions actually cost LESS in Canada than they do in the United States even WITH insurance (note: expect a tirade on this in the coming days). As I was nearly out of my prescription, and will be in California for the most of next week celebrating Christmas, today was really the only viable day to run this errand.

As per my custom, after the three hour drive to Vancouver (four, if you happen to have a very nasty border crossing), I am not all that eager to get back on the road, and always visit instead a small bookstore right off of Granville. It's a combination used bookstore and coffee shop, and it's always a treat to wander down the aisles looking for good books while the rich smell of coffee wafts teasingly though the halls. It's such a cozy experience- two of my favorite things- and I swear you can pull a book off the shelf, stick your nose in it and breathe deeply, and you will inhale the aroma of dark, thick coffee. Heaven.

While I was slowly walking down each aisle, craning my head sideways to read the titles or find the names of authors, I saw a sign on one of the bookshelves that I read without thinking, and simply moved on. It wasn't until I was back on the road, thinking my usual thoughts of nothing that my mind chanced upon that sign, and re-visited what it said.

And then, I laughed out loud.

There is humor where we least expect it: cleverness that so often goes unnoticed because we are overwhelmed with signs, billboards, placards and symbols. We glance at them once and know immediately what the content is based on its first few words, and then obey accordingly.
We have even turned ourselves into walking billboards, with t-shirts emblazoned with the name of the designer across them (and usually going for $30 bucks a pop- $5 for the everyday cotton t-shirt you can get at Wal-Mart, $25 for the right to advertise the name of designer so that people will see it and the designer can sell more).

So it's no surprise that I saw this particular sign in the bookstore and summarily dismissed it: it was in regards to children left unattended, after all. Having no children of my own (at this point) and certainly none that I had hijacked on my way to Canada just to keep my company, I saw immediately the sign meant nothing to me, and continued down the aisles.

It was only later, when I thought about it, that the clever creativity of it hit me. It read: 'All children left unattended will be given an espresso and a puppy.'

Nothing further.

It was brilliant.

I DON'T want to open my eyes to all that is thrust in my face in this life. We're bombarded with thousands of pieces of information daily that begs to be looked at more deeply, acted upon. No wonder we shut our eyes to it. So I won't be checking every billboard for cleverness, or reading every T-shirt to see whether the sentiments are funny, cute or worth a laugh. Very few, if any, are. Thrust it in my face, and it will be thrust back at you.

But the flip side to this parabolic shield over my head, this inoculating myself against the advertisements of this world means that I run the risk of missing little gems like the one in the bookstore. But someone with a sense of humor like mine tacked that sign up, and I salute them. Thank you for the laugh on a rainy afternoon. Thanks for coming up with things like that, even if the rest of the world is too busy to 'get it'.