If I had to identify a theme for this week, it would be "misadventures, mishaps and boo boos." It started Tuesday morning, when I woke up with something stuck under my eyelid that required an emergency visit to my optometrist. Tuesday evening, as we were cleaning up dinner, I broke a glass. Then this morning, as I was driving to my prenatal yoga class, I got a flat tire. When I was on the freeway. After hitting an enormous piece of metal.
Fortunately, I am healthy and safe and my sense of humor is intact. Yes, I need to get a new tire tomorrow morning; but I'm in the middle of an excellent novel that I'm happy to read while the car is serviced (Charlotte Street, by Danny Wallace).
As I was headed to my yoga studio, I noticed the SUV ahead of me was slowing down. I braked and then suddenly, $#%&, there was a huge piece of metal about five feet from my car. I don't mean a rogue hubcap. I mean a big bar of rusted metal, about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. I held my breath and drove straight over the bitch.
The metal clunked under the car and bounced against the frame and made lots of horrifying metallic sounds... and then it bounced out behind the car. The car was still driving fine, but I made a few lane changes and took the next exit off the freeway. As I drove down the ramp, the car signaled that it had a flat tire. I parked on a residential side street right by the freeway and called Nathan. I said I might drive a mile to a gas station near our house with a mechanic. Nathan sweetly suggested that I stay put and call AAA. Of course. Duh. Thank God I called my husband first and didn't attempt to drive a car with a flat tire for a mile.
Saul from AAA arrived within fifteen minutes and cheerfully swapped the busted tire for the spare donut. He looked under the car and reported that everything looked fine. WHEW.
I could be cranky or bitter about this episode, but really, I just feel lucky and grateful. What if I had swerved and hit another car? I had about 0.2 seconds to make a decision, and I consciously thought "drive over the metal." My dad taught me well. And what if the metal had bounced badly and caused more destruction? I don't want to even think what could have happened to my unborn baby girl. Thank God I was driving a good safe car that could handle the abuse and not one of those "smart" cars which don't seem so smart when you think about it.
On the one hand, this has been a week of misadventures, mishaps and boo boos... but it has also been a week of blessings, good fortune and serendipity. Plus, if you get a flat tire on the freeway, you are morally obligated to have pancakes for lunch. Which is exactly what I did.
