Our friends and family in California won’t understand how this is a thing in Michigan.  Our friends and colleagues in Michigan won’t understand why this is a thing.

We moved from Los Angeles to rural Michigan.  There have been a number of occurrences that  have highlighted the cultural and societal differences between our former and current homes.

This is one of my favorites, and one of the most telling.

If you are from L.A., or other equally urban area, picture this. You are driving at dusk on a two-lane road in the outskirts of town, and this road is lined with agriculture, with no buildings in sight.  You come upon a car stopped, facing you in the opposing lane with a man behind the wheel, and there is a woman standing in your lane frantically waving you to stop.

What’s happening here?  Maybe one of two things; either the occupant of the car has been shot and somehow neither have a working cell phone, or this is a hijacking and you are about to be shot.

If you are from Michigan, you know that there was a turtle crossing the road and this couple stopped, and made sure we stopped, to help said turtle get safely off the road.

We’re not in L.A. any more.