Last night, it was REALLY foggy when I was driving home. I am getting used to the fog, so I don't freak out about it anymore. What DOES give me anxiety is when other cars FOLLOW me in the fog. When we first moved to the mountains, I used to follow cars too, because I was scared and blind and stupid. I would pull over and wait for a car to pass, then immediately start following the car, using it as my beacon to guide me up the mountain. Last night, I was driving slowly and cautiously, but happily BY MYSELF. The fog was so dense that I couldn't see the guard rail to my right, or even the line in the middle of the road, but I was taking my sweet time. I calmed myself with the thought that even if I did hit the guard rail, I was going too slow for it to do much damage anyway.
Suddenly, there was a line of cars behind me....and all my self soothing went to crap. I slowed down so they could pass, and they all slowed down too, carefully maintaining a respectful length of distance from my car. And I'm yelling, "DON'T follow me stupid people, I'm blind!" Of course they don't hear me, but I am yelling anyway. So instead of proceeding calmly up the highway, I am suddenly filled with dread, because I am feeling responsible for leading this whole line of cars to safety, even though I am a crummy driver, and my vision SUCKS. I am thinking, if I hit the guard rail, will they all hit it too? If I plummet off the side off the mountain, will they go down with me? Talk about the dumb following the blind...
All turned out fine, so really this story had no point. By the way, what is up with this Bipolar weather? We had no snow during winter, then we get lots of snow the first half of April. The second half of April feels like Summer, then May hits and it is like Stephen King's "The Mist" outside. One morning, I dressed the little ones in skirts and t-shirts because it was warm and sunny, and when I got home, it was hailing. I felt a little bad when I saw them shivering. Oops.
My sister should get her cat fixed, I think.
Minus the teeth-weilding, snarling creatures, I hope. Or else you weather in the mountains is stranger than I thought.
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When I first moved to TX, the drivers here were completely mind-boggling to me. They would pull onto the shoulder and let one another pass, you could flash your lights at the person ahead of you and they would actually move over--rather than flipping you off, or slowing down even more--and it was way too much stress for me. I have a complex about driving on the shoulder, I simply can't do it, so when people behind me want me to, I sort of freak. I've gotten used to it, and while I still don't pull over onto the shoulder, if I'm driving the speed limit they can suck it! :D
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