a near miss

It was snowing when I woke today.

A heavy wet snow as it was in the 40′s yesterday.

I didn’t pay any attention other than choosing to take the SUV with four wheel drive over the Pontiac Vibe.

It was Tuesday which meant before I go to work I drop off Eddie at doggie daycare which is out of my way and involves taking the one highway in Madison.

Normally Eddie bounds out of the house as Tuesdays and Thursdays are his favorite. This morning, however, he wouldn’t go. I thought it was the snow that was freaking him out even though this wasn’t our first snow of the season. He was so stubborn I had to put on his leash and almost pull him to the car.

Our trip out to The Dog Den was uneventful and slow. It was definitely slippery but as a veteran and conqueror of all things snow I thought nothing of it.

I dropped him off and headed back onto the Beltline on my way to work. Again, traffic was busy, almost bumper to bumper, as it was shortly after 8 am. Everyone was going slow; maybe around 30 mph.

There were three lanes of traffic. I was in the far left lane when I decided to move to the middle lane.

I still don’t know what happened but as I began to veer right, the car took on a life of it’s own and slid while doing a slow spin through all lanes of traffic. I remember heading towards a pole on the shoulder and thinking, “I’m in a dream. I won’t hit anything because I’m in a dream.” (I often have nightmares about being in a car accident. This won’t make them worse. No, not at all.)

My car finally stopped spinning and sliding on the right hand shoulder, perpendicular to traffic.

I stopped breathing.

I hadn’t hit anything. I was OK. How was that possible!?!? There was a steady stream of cars and I went through two lanes of traffic! How did I not hit anybody or even that pole?

A woman drove by and looked over at me while giving me a questioning thumbs up as if to say, “Holy Sh*t! Are you OK?” I nodded as she kept going.

Through no strength of my own, I straighten the car out, stepped on the gas and drove off.

Shaking uncontrollably.

Recently with the Denver Broncos in the playoffs and their quarterback Tim Tebowe in the limelight, I’ve been very judgmental of him and his beliefs. “There’s no religion in football. Keep it off the field!” I touted.

My annoyance to him had my atheist side blossoming. I was condescending and criticizing to every Tebowe fan. In some weird way almost taking it personally. I even put a snarky comment on Facebook about, “Jesus being on vacation” after the Denver loss Saturday night.

I got to work in one piece, (still slipping a few times but on a residential street where no one is around, who cares) called Matt and then proceeded to quietly freak out as what happened minutes before sunk in.

My arms felt like I had been in a boxing match for eight hours. My neck, well my neck was (and still is) so tight I can’t adequately turn my head.

I kept replaying it over and over in my head while thinking, “How did I not hit anybody. How? It’s not possible? How did I not cause a bigger accident?”

Do I think Jesus saved me?  No, (I am still Jewish after all…) but do I think it was just pure luck?  No.  I don’t.  What I do know is that I’m backing off Mr. Tebowe and his supporters. He and others can “Tebowe” all day long.  Please, be my guest.

I’m still not a fan of organized religion (for my own very personal reasons), but a higher power? Raise your hand if your Sure.

How else can you please explain how I crossed two lanes of traffic on a highway(!) during the morning rush hour on ice laden streets and didn’t hurt myself, my car or others.

Just 24 hours previous I was making pancakes for Ben and his BFF after their sleepover. The sun was shining in, the boys were gobbling up my pancakes, the dog was leaving them alone and I had one of those moments where I felt so happy. So content. But as I’m wont to do, I immediately thought, “I hope this isn’t the before part of a Hallmark movie where the next day my world comes crashing down…”

I could have died this morning. Or been seriously injured. Or totaled my car. Instead I sailed through it all save for some sore muscles and raw nerves.

I can’t believe that was simply luck.

I don’t know what it was but I do know my days of judging anyone for their beliefs and looking for trouble in my life are over.

This might be PTSD and maybe in a few weeks I’ll look back on this post and shake my head.

But as for right now, I firmly believe that something or someone got my attention this morning. And now I’m all ears.