A few weeks ago, on May 18, I graduated college and got my degree! :)
However, what should have been a day of smiles and huge sighs of relief that term papers were now a thing of the past, it became an anxiety-filled nightmare that almost resulted in a fatal wreck.
Later that day, my roommate was driving me to Chicago, where I would take the Amtrak home and she would rendezvous with her family at a nearby restaurant. First let me just tell you that my roommate is...easily distracted. She sometimes is oblivious to people who are standing within her vicinity. When I learned she got her license and her family gave her a hand-me-down van, I was a little nervous. A lot nervous. Don't get me wrong. She's my good friend and I love her, but I'm just telling it how it is.
We'd just gotten out of town and onto the highway when we came to one of those intersections where you and the opposite lane in front get the light at once. She was paying more attention to the light than the fact that the people in front of us were coming, so she proceeded to turn.
Have you ever had one of those moments where you know something horrible is about to happen, but you're too numb to do anything about it other than watch it play out? Even if it's something that's about to happen to you? That's how I felt, because I knew if my roommate didn't stop in time, the other car coming towards us at full speed would slam right into shotgun where I was sitting and either paralyze me or outright kill me.
Thankfully, my roommate noticed her error and slammed the breaks before something irreversible could transpire. She was a bit shaken, so I tried to assure her it wasn't her fault and she had the light even though they both had the light.
Roughly two hours later when we were entering the suburbs of Chicago, she nearly got us in another wreck when she was too busy looking for street signs to notice the person in front of us had stopped. Again, thankfully, she noticed and hit the breaks before something could happen, though if she hadn't, this would only have resulted in a scratched and dented bumper.
Of course, we somehow were running late and despite my numerous trips to Chicago, we got lost and I totally blanked on the street Union Station was at, resulting in a tearful, frantic phone call to my mother where I explained that I might miss my train and I didn't know what to do. I feel really bad having to subject my roomie to that, but I just couldn't help it at the time. I have this weird anxiety when travelling where I think if I miss my train/bus/flight/etc that I'll be stranded where ever I am and be stuck there until I eventually die of starvation or dehydration. It's silly, I know, but I can't help it, and a traumatic past experience where I DID end up getting stranded somewhere and no one cared enough to assist me didn't exactly help me get over it. In fact, that incident gave me a sickening fear of Greyhound buses, long story short.
When we finally arrived at the station, I jumped out of the van, said quick goodbyes to my roommate, and practically tossed my things out the back of her van. I swear, I must've looked like a lunatic. Just imagine this: a hippie-looking girl with long, Ariel-red hair and dramatic cateye makeup red-face and grunting as she drags her heavy luggage bags while trying to run with them down to the gates. The only reason I was able to catch my train was because like me, it was late. I swear, I almost dropped to my knees, thanking the Lord and Lady repeatedly, further making myself look like a lunatic.
From there on out, it was smooth sailing, but much to my dismay, the next day I discovered I had a bad sunburn on my face and a random spot on my back, the latter of which is still visible. Ironically, I considered putting on my sunscreen before the ceremony, but I thought I was running late when I wasn't and left without it, reasoning with myself we wouldn't be outside that long anyway. It lasted at least two hours. For a fair-skinned lady like myself, that's the equivalent of walking directly on the surface of the sun.
Also to my dismay, I've discovered I am no longer comfortable being in a car while at intersections, for I keep thinking another car is going to come at us and hit us, even when riding with my mother, who has never had a ticket or caused an accident ever in her 30-something years of driving.
Here's me before the ceremony:
Here's me post-ceremony with my diploma! Oh, sweet, naive me. You don't even know the torment in store for you later in the day...
And now here's me the day after, still on the train home, letting my family know I'm still alive and have a little bit of my spirit left:
