Welcome to the Jungle

I like nature shows because they have a predictable pattern. I know at some point a lioness or killer whale will chase a small, vulnerable animal (chance of survival 0.5%), I'll learn an interesting fact I can't share (until I meet someone who also likes nature shows), and the narrator will say something like, "It's better to find another hunting ground than intrude on a mother and her young."

He's not kidding.

The other day, Tim & I were driving to meet my family for lunch. We were on a road with two lanes in our direction and two coming from the other. The restaurant was in sight as we approached an intersection. We were driving in the right lane when a guy (exiting from a restaurant on our left) decided that waiting for traffic to clear before he entered the road was too complicated of a rule to follow. In one move, he crossed all three lanes of traffic and attempted to muscle into our lane as well. Tim had to slam on the brakes to stop from hitting him, though he absolutely deserved it. Our wheels squealed and the seat belt pressed into my upper belly. When we stopped, I had one thing on my mind: jungle justice.

HONK! HONK!

"You idiot! You total idiot! (HONK!) What were you thinking?!?" The guy had the audacity to wave to us as he continued on, as if to say, "Oops, sorry about that." When you bump into somebody in the grocery line, "Sorry about that," is OK, but that doesn't cut it out in the jungle. When this kind of infringement occurs in the jungle, someone dies. The mama elephant doesn't stop to consult the father if it's OK to charge a predator, either; she hands down justice with her own tusks.

Tim, unfortunately, didn't think jungle justice should be carried out mid-day with so many witnesses, so after making sure I was OK, we continued on to the restaurant.

When we arrived there a minute later, I related the event to my family, and it turns out that my sister-in-law (who is 1 month further along in her pregnancy than I am) had a similar experience a few days before. A man, desperate for a parking spot, cut her off as she tried to park. He missed her vehicle by inches.

My sister-in-law is a petite, soft-spoken woman. In fact, seeing as how her toddler son, my mother, my brother, my sister, and my niece were all in the SUV at the time, it seems she would have tried to put on a calm-down-everyone face. But, this is the jungle, people.

After carrying around a child for months--altering diet, activities, lifestyle, and sleep habits to ensure the baby is protected--do you think a MTB is about to overlook an outright threat? My sister-in-law rolled down her window, yelled at the driver, shook her fist, and let the rage-o-meter peak. My sister-in-law was so angry, that the people in the other car parked, but never got out of the car. They sat there, engine running and lights on. Was it the fact that my brother (a heavy-set guy) got out, furious as expected? Maybe. Was it the fact that my mother exited the vehicle, scowling? Not sure. I think what did it was the fact that my sister-in-law got out fuming, clearly pregnant and clearly down with jungle justice. Whatever the reason, the other car finally decided to leave the parking lot as a narrator said, "Clearly for some predators, it is better to find another hunting ground than it is to intrude on a mother and her young."