Smiley Face in the Road

There is a smiley face drawn on the road. It’s about a half mile from my house and the tar stands out dark against the faded asphalt. I see it on the walk I go on every morning. Well, not every morning. In fact, I have only gone a few mornings since we moved here. But my daughter just started preschool so I think I will go every morning. Positive thinking.

The smiley face follows a bunch of other squiggles made with tar. Someone came through here to repair all the cracks in the road. The squiggles loop back and forth over each other making it look like an alien language. Or maybe abstract art. I wonder why someone took the time to cover each crack in this old road instead of putting a patch. Was it more cost effective?

On my walks I stop to take pictures of the fog over the fields, the spider webs covered in dew, the cows eating their grass. It is rapidly disappearing with the sun and I want to capture each moment because they are new to me. Every view is new to me. The fields are so different from the suburbs. Will I appreciate it as much after a year?

The smiley face is at the end of the road before it tees off and leads to a horse ranch. Did the drawer of that smiley face draw it because he saw the end of a long day? Or was he simply delirious from the smell of the tar or the heat of the sun and the tar in front of him? I want to know if he was doing this all by himself and if he was paid adequately. Did he spend all the time covering the individual cracks because he was getting paid hourly and wanted to spend as much time on this simple job surrounded by these beautiful fields? I hope so. I wonder if that’s why I moved here. Because if I have to go through life, I might as well be surrounded by beauty.