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“Often, we get the raised fist,” said Texas Sterling Construction project manager Jason Nijim.
For the past eight months, Nijim has been project manager for the Main Street reconstruction in Frisco.
“You’re traveling through like, ‘when are these guys gonna finish,’” he said.
But this story isn’t about frustrated drivers, it’s about frustrated seniors.
“What bothers me more than anything is they don’t appreciate the fact they’re doing this for us,” said 77-year-old Douglas Wilson.
“Where we going if we don’t have them taking care of our roads,” said 83-year-old Don Wright.
“What they’re doing out there, they’re doing it for us,” added 79-year-old Joe Surovik.
The residents at Mustang Creek Estates live in the heart of the construction zone and what really revved their engines was the way those workers were unappreciated.
“They get a lot of horn honkin’ and yellin’ and screamin’,” Wright said.
“They’re doing something for us so we decided we’re gonna do something for them,” said Surovik.
The seniors wanted to make sure no worker was starving for encouragement. So, last week, to say thank you, they invited the whole crew for lunch.
“This is the first time that anyone from the community’s reached out like this,” Nijim said.
Jason and his team were given sandwiches, drinks and an entirely new perspective.
“For sure, it’s changed me to see how people still care,” Nijim said.
The seniors may not have been the ones honking or shaking fists, but they say by doing nothing, they too would have been part of the problem.
“If I’m going to try and play a role in trying to help people to get along with each other better that means I gotta look in the mirror,” Wilson said.
What Wilson is trying to say is sometimes we need to hit the brakes and be thankful for where we’re at, rather than worry where we’re going.
Because we may not all be on the same journey, but we can build a road worth traveling.