Bubblicious

I love blowing bubbles, not the bubble gum kind, those are fun but sticky, but the soap and water, bottle-of-bubbles-with-the-magic-wand type. I especially love blowing them out the car window when I'm stuck in traffic. It helps alleviate my stress about the traffic, it probably helps the folks behind me do the same, it's environmentally safe and it's damn fun to boot. And hey, the worst that happens, if you spill it, you get clean all over you (thanks to my sister's sister-in-law for that quote). I've also decided that it's impossible to be angry when you're blowing bubbles.

I've been enjoying this little habit since I was in high school. I have to thank my friend Carolyn for the addiction. We were best buds as seniors, including the few years afterwards, and drove everywhere my little Chevette could handle, even places it couldn't. On one of our jaunts, it was warm and the windows were down...of course we were blowing bubbles. At one traffic light, a woman rolled down her window and told us it was the best birthday present she'd gotten all day. I was hooked. If a little thing like blowing bubbles can brighten someone's day, hell, sign me up.

I travel with my bubbles, putting them in a Ziploc for plane trips lest they explode or leak with the change of air pressure, and one of the best times I ever had was about 5 years ago at Disney. I was at a professional conference and joined a friend, his partner, mother-in-law and sister-in-law for a day at the Magic Kingdom. I'm not a huge Disney fan by nature or politics, but it was his mother-in-law's first trip IN HER LIFE and she was damned well gonna see Disney. So as the family was doing the tourist thing, I was sitting in my wheelchair in the middle of "Main Street USA" patiently waiting for them to finish. I pulled out my bottle of bubbles and in less than 3 minutes, had a gaggle of children running, jumping, playing, chasing bubbles and laughing. It was the best time I ever had at Disney.

Today I'm driving between assignments, long ass drive, I might add, and did my usual drive through lunch. Don't know why I did drive through, I had plenty of time to sit down to a real meal somewhere, guess habits are hard to break. Anyway, lunch over, and I'm at a stop light...yup, you guessed it...the bubbles come out. It's in the mid-40's, not too bad, but not going to drive with the window down for long. I recently found a great new bottle of bubbles, one that you can attach the wand directly to the cap, and it makes tons of bubbles. I stick the wand out the window and there's just enough breeze to blow them naturally. All of a sudden, there's this booming voice over a loudspeaker behind me, "nice bubbles". It took me a second, but when I looked in the rear view mirror, there was an ambulance 2 cars behind me. I simply waved, laughed, and reloaded my wand to blow bubbles as the light turned green.

For the record and general information, depending on the bubbles, wand and breeze, the top speed you can have your car before the bubbles simply don't work is about 12-18 mph. I've done studies, albeit not scientific, and this is what I've found to be true.

So, go spend a dollar or two, roll down your car windows, and brighten someone's day. It's a cheap, clean thrill.