Winter Weather Advisory
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Mmmmmm
Posts: 3,178
Winter Weather Advisory
So you are driving along in your life with an A. You start carrying all the detritus of hopes and expectations of your life because their attention more and more is focused on their DOC. You turn in the wipers, but keep on going thinking you'll drive out if it. He/she will moderate, cut back - regain normality.
Instead, it starts to snow big gobs of flakes that accumulate on your car despite the speed. But you have an exit - a specific destination that you want this relationship to go. You ignore the snow piling up on the road, the lowering speed, and just keep your foot on the gas. You are clutching the steering wheel peering out of a little clear window. It all rests with you. Soon you are driving slow enough that you can put the window down and bang on your wipers to try to clear them. You ignore every brightly lit Hampton Inn and little motel and your tires now make a weird silenced sound as there is so much snow in your wheel wells. All the other cars are just two hazy red lights.
You avoid every Mother Nature warning that this is a blizzard and maybe getting off the highway and adjusting your plans would be the safest thing to do.
Nope. You just keep going until the fireworks explode and the acid leaks out and the interstate is closed. Then you are just shocked at the situation. Appalled! Livid! There's a blizzard! It is cold! You don't have a blanket, snacks, or water in the car. No boots for a walk to escape the pile up. No extra hat and mittens tucked away. Luckily you do have a winter coat. You are too old to wear hoodies everywhere. You dully recall your father telling you to never ever get below a half tank of gas in the winter. You look at the gauge and reluctantly turn the car off to conserve gas. Bye bye heat. In the silence, you think, "This is not what I had planned." Because now you aren't going anywhere. Now you are forced to think how many warning signs did you ignore? How much of this mess is really yours to claim?
Interstate 94 In Michigan Still Closed After Deadly Pileup
Instead, it starts to snow big gobs of flakes that accumulate on your car despite the speed. But you have an exit - a specific destination that you want this relationship to go. You ignore the snow piling up on the road, the lowering speed, and just keep your foot on the gas. You are clutching the steering wheel peering out of a little clear window. It all rests with you. Soon you are driving slow enough that you can put the window down and bang on your wipers to try to clear them. You ignore every brightly lit Hampton Inn and little motel and your tires now make a weird silenced sound as there is so much snow in your wheel wells. All the other cars are just two hazy red lights.
You avoid every Mother Nature warning that this is a blizzard and maybe getting off the highway and adjusting your plans would be the safest thing to do.
Nope. You just keep going until the fireworks explode and the acid leaks out and the interstate is closed. Then you are just shocked at the situation. Appalled! Livid! There's a blizzard! It is cold! You don't have a blanket, snacks, or water in the car. No boots for a walk to escape the pile up. No extra hat and mittens tucked away. Luckily you do have a winter coat. You are too old to wear hoodies everywhere. You dully recall your father telling you to never ever get below a half tank of gas in the winter. You look at the gauge and reluctantly turn the car off to conserve gas. Bye bye heat. In the silence, you think, "This is not what I had planned." Because now you aren't going anywhere. Now you are forced to think how many warning signs did you ignore? How much of this mess is really yours to claim?
Interstate 94 In Michigan Still Closed After Deadly Pileup
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: uk
Posts: 368
Thank you for this. I needed to read this today, I think.
I am finding it harder and harder to see through the blizzard. It keeps calming down, you see. And then we are both so happy, but snow is there and I can't keep ignoring it.
I am finding it harder and harder to see through the blizzard. It keeps calming down, you see. And then we are both so happy, but snow is there and I can't keep ignoring it.
Engineer Things; LOVE People
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,707
And THEN comes the Fireworks!
Video: Truck carrying fireworks explodes at massive I-94 pile-up | Fox17
Video: Truck carrying fireworks explodes at massive I-94 pile-up | Fox17
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 322
Conversation with my cousins, who are my best friends, the other day:
Me: It's not that I don't "SEE" the red flags. Oh, I see them, loud and clear. It's just that I fly right past them...straight into the brick wall waiting for me after the flags, at 100 mph. Head on.
Cousin: Yep, and you don't even try to hit the brakes a little.
Me: Because I keep thinking that I've done this enough times and I'm a professional driver. I can swerve around the brick wall this time.
Cousin: Yeah, you swerve all right...and you swerve so hard that you end up in a massive roll-over down at the bottom of the cliff. And then there you are again. Black, blue, beat up and bloody trying to claw your way up out of the wreckage.
Other cousin: Hey, what's the definition of insanity again?
LOL...it's not funny, but the conversation kind of was. In a sad, but true kind of way.
Ugh.
I need my license taken away for a while!
Me: It's not that I don't "SEE" the red flags. Oh, I see them, loud and clear. It's just that I fly right past them...straight into the brick wall waiting for me after the flags, at 100 mph. Head on.
Cousin: Yep, and you don't even try to hit the brakes a little.
Me: Because I keep thinking that I've done this enough times and I'm a professional driver. I can swerve around the brick wall this time.
Cousin: Yeah, you swerve all right...and you swerve so hard that you end up in a massive roll-over down at the bottom of the cliff. And then there you are again. Black, blue, beat up and bloody trying to claw your way up out of the wreckage.
Other cousin: Hey, what's the definition of insanity again?
LOL...it's not funny, but the conversation kind of was. In a sad, but true kind of way.
Ugh.
I need my license taken away for a while!
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
Heh, now that I'm quite a bit older than my parents were, back when they were giving me these wise warnings, I'm a lot more cautious about things in general. There really is a sense of immortality when you're younger that thankfully fades a bit when you accumulate some years and a lot of crashes/near-misses.
That's one thing I try to remember when I worry about my own kids. Some lessons you only learn AFTER you've ignored the good advice.
That's one thing I try to remember when I worry about my own kids. Some lessons you only learn AFTER you've ignored the good advice.
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