Sunday Night.~
Home safe. Too tired, too wired, to write. I am just going to copy the beginning of my trip, that i wrote longhand, in desperation to blog, thursday nite.
Thursday, 10pm.
" I am writing this in true mermaid fashion, sitting in the bathtub of the Red Roof Inn, in Monroeville,Pa.The tub is not deep, but the water is hot, and embraces me. Justin and I should still be on the road, about 2 hours from Berlin, Md, but we ran into such ferocious rain in the mountains we finally said," Enough."
What has me still shaking, though, is this. We left at 2pm, sunny skies and high spirits. Justin is a fabulous copilot, and played music that perfectly fit our mood. At 7:15 pm, we stopped for gas, and that's when the sky began to gush. Twice I lost sight, as a sheet of water covered the windshield. No choice, just grip the wheel and point forward, unseeing. We had just gotten into the Pittsburgh area, which is near the Allegany Mountains.Traffic stopped, and then we saw it...A red compact car, crushed, with 4 firemen and the jaws of life, trying to extract a woman trapped in the drivers seat. One minute later,we gazed in horror at the cause... a semi, flipped, wheels still spinning..Who hit who? Was it the rain, jetting 10 feet high over the median, and the flash flood spilling over the roadway? Was it the darkening mountain mist, or the foolishness of 80 miles an hour in hazardous conditons? And what about me, so frightened and so game, traveling these mountains that others take for granted,( not afraid to drive? )All I know is, 15 minutes before we saw the accident, J. and I were alone on the freeway, somehow escaping the rush of cars. The clouds had rolled in, the sky black as pitch to the east, where we were headed.And suddenly, there it was, a perfect double rainbow, framed by mountain mist and placid farmland. I slowed, and J. shot pictures, in awe of the magic in the sky. Did that 15 minutes keep US from being that little red car? That was the slim window of opportunity. Did the angels save us?Was it just simple timing? Hmmn.....
And that was the start of the trip....tomorrow, always tomorrow., this mermaid is going to take off her clothes, snuggle deep in her familiar, lovely bed...and sleep. Later..