The Day After

I had the most terrifying experience of my life yesterday en route to see a friend in a play on the south side of town. Essentially I was driving along, minding my own business, looking for my exit, when the car in the lane to my immediate left lurched at me. I swerved onto the shoulder and she started to move to the left again, out of the far right lane. I thought she just hadn't seen me at first, and was giving me space to come back into the lane. But when I tried to come back, she swerved at me again. This time she stayed even with me, but kept inching closer and closer to my car. Not wanting to get pinned between her and the guardrail, I accelerated to get away...which is when she clipped my bumper, which caused my car to fishtail and go spinning back into traffic.

The only thought I remember having is "I guess this must be how I die."

So it was nothing short of a miracle that I regained control of my car before I hit anyone else (and before anyone else hit me). When I finally made my way back to the shoulder and came to a stop, I looked around for the other car. She had gotten in the far left lane and was speeding away.

I don't know if she was drunk, high, or falling asleep, but she very nearly killed me. And in my shaken state, I wrote her plate number down wrong, so she'll never be held responsible (and therefore prevented from doing the same to someone else). But in the final analysis, I think I got more positives than negatives out of the experience. I'll need a new bumper, but the car is otherwise unharmed (this is miracle #2, as I was convinced she had slammed me into the guardrail at least once). My insurance will cover what damage was done. I'm fine, and everyone else around me managed to stay out of the fray. And when I arrived at the play venue (which happened to be a Baptist Church), the staff were incredibly kind to me. They even brought me inside and gave me free food and drink from the concession stand while their security guard waited by my car for the police to arrive, so I didn't have to stand out in the heat by myself and wait. Even the policeman was friendly and comforting! And I had planned to meet 2 of my friends for the play that night, but it turned out 7(!) of our other friends were also coming, so I had plenty of people to hug me and talk to me and comfort me. I was fortunate beyond words.

In the end, I learned 2 things:
1. For every one drug-addled homicidal maniac that tries to run me off the road, there are a dozen kind, generous, selfless, big-hearted people who want to help me out.
2. Contrary to my usual opinion, I can be trusted to make big decisions for myself. Because yesterday I had 20 seconds to make decisions that would either kill me or save my life, and I'm still here. And I did it all in 3-inch stilettos!

I snapped this picture sitting at a light on my way home from work when I looked up and saw my incredibly relaxed hand dangling out the window. I was so grateful to still be alive, sitting in my little car (which also performed admirably under stress yesterday), singing along with the radio on a gorgeous afternoon with the windows down. It doesn't seem like a big moment...until you realize how quickly it can be snatched away.