Angelic Apathy?

It will shock some of you to know I have a bit of a reputation as a bad driver. It's a reputation, mind you, not necessarily the truth. I generally maintain that people who complain about my driving tend to inflate the severity of my traffic infractions.

But last night, I admit, I was entirely in the wrong. Ali and I were heading to Herron High Schools' winter sports awards and I had intended to back into a parking spot but a car came in close behind me. I drove on, but there were no other spots in the lot.
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I spied an opportunity to shoot back across the lot to get my original spot, so I took it, ignoring the mutterings of my co-pilot who was advising me that I was now driving the wrong way in the lot. Which was true. I turned left, thinking that would fix it, but no. Again the muttering to my right.

I sighed, decided I was in for more than a penny so I might as well spend the pound. I turn right and came within a sliver of frog fur from being T-boned by a rather fast moving car full of Herron winter sport athletes.

They were none too happy at our near-miss.

It's testament to the strength of whatever metal their car was made of that the shrieks didn't melt the thing down to its tires, but they certainly reached my ears. Ali was no better as she was sitting at the T of the bone-headed move.

Happily, my Mustang anticipated the move and we all braked in time. No gnashing of metal occurred. No blood was spilled. No muscles torn asunder. I took a breath, shot the other driver an apologetic look and told Ali she was fine.

"You almost killed me," she said. "Again."

"You're fine," I said and reminded her of the time and that there were probably cookies inside. I lost track of the driver of the other car as there were a lot of HHS Achaeans and parents in the lot, all of streaming inside for the ceremony.

OK, it's true. I did my best to lose track of the driver of the other car. A. I didn't need any more drama than I already had and B. There were cookies inside.

For the second year in a row, Ali won most improved swimmer and collected some hardware, and we didn't speak of my poor parking/driving skills again. Until today when I picked her up from school.

Of course, she knew the girl I'd traumatized. Said girl apparently confessed to Ali that she was prepared to hunt me down and cuss me out but had been talked down, ironically by the swim team manager. There was little chance of that girl not knowing it was Ali Reed she'd almost smashed.

I mean, they were staring at each other, horror-struck as our cars careened toward each other and probably felt like they were moving in slow motion toward a firey death.

I get it. It was scary. But, again, I say: There was no actual gnashing of metal. No blood was spilled. No muscles torn asunder.

"What would you have done if she had cussed you out?" Alison asked me. "I mean, you were in the wrong, Mom. You know that, right?"

I once again admitted that yes, yes, I was driving the wrong way, it was my fault. However, I would not have approved of a student cursing at an adult. Or an adult cursing at a student. I would have apologized, and I hope that would have mitigated the situation.

"Maybe we actually do have a guardian angel," I mused. After all, I've had more than my fair share of near misses on the roadways.

"I bet your guardian angel is tired of you," Alison muttered.

She's probably not wrong.

In other news, thanks to everyone sending good vibes to my father-in-law Gary Reed who suffered a fall and a heart attack last weekend. He is doing much better and is headed for a rehab facility soon after getting sprung from the ICU, finally.

Jeff flew out to see him and lighten the burden a bit on Jennifer and James, who live in Maine and do a great job of checking in and helping Gary as they can. With James working in Boston, a lot of that falls to Jen and her husband, Peter, who live closest. We're grateful to all of them -- especially to Peter who found and got Gary to the hospital.

On a sadder note, please send comforting vibes to the Bradbury family. Sherry Bradbury, my sister Donna's sister-in-law passed away. I don't remember a time when the Bradburys weren't part of my family, and Sherry's smile would light up the night sky. 

Here's to a brighter weekend and rest of the year for all of us. That's Ali and her friend and swim-mate Navy as they waited to collect their Swim Team Hardware. While it would make sense that they are laughing at me and my driving skills, I was not the focus in this particular moment.