Running Naked in the Street

This morning as I drove my daughter to school, I saw a man running butt-ass naked down Alameda in front of Country Club about 3 blocks from the neighborhood elementary school. I drive this route everyday and as I saw him coming towards me, in the center of the road, I noticed he seemed frazzled. This is not a normal activity in my neighborhood. I usually see the same police officer waiting for speeders to blow through the school zone. I see my Starbucks lovers waiting to get a parking space in the lot. I see parents walking their children to school. I generally do not see naked men trotting down the center of the street.

As he got closer, I noticed a bizarre look in his eye. He was also slowing down his pace. I don't know if it was the weather or the hill, but he was coming to the end of his run. Even if he had worn shoes and socks, the 32 degree weather would have eventually slowed his pace. I remembered briefly a naked Halloween run in Boulder where the participants wear pumpkins on their heads and thought maybe this was a college or youthful shoot-off of this activity. But, I saw this "look" in his eye that convinced me otherwise.

This wasn't a college prank. This guy was off.

I continued on to my house - I have 30 minutes to get the 2nd kid off to school.

As I drove the same route, in reverse, to take my son to school, I had a conversation with him about crazy and the people who wear it well. I told him about the guy running and talked to him about a little girl who was snatched yesterday and how her body was found last night and why I warn him not to talk to strangers. I noticed a few police cars in the neighborhood so I slowed and asked one of the officers if they were responding to the "naked guy running down the street" and they said yes. I then asked if it was a prank, or if there was something wrong with him and they responded "bi-polar." I talked to my son about people that are having a hard time functioning right now, not only because of any pre-determined illness, or psychosis, but also because of the state of affairs the world is in right now. People can't afford their medications. People are homeless and jobless. The world is in crisis and people are acting out.

Then I got home and read this:


Taurus (4/20-5/20)
When you're driving in your car, you realize that you are not the only driver on the road -- after all, you must be aware of what other people are doing to be as safe as you can be. This awareness should apply to all areas of your life right now. Take note of who is around you and how they are behaving. Be careful of how others may affect day's scheduled route. Plan a detour, just in case.

I have never had such a literal synopsis of my day (or my morning), but I appreciated the heads up...if only I had read it before I left the house this morning. As usual, I believe the universe is speaking to me and I will detour this afternoon, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to warn my kids to be aware.