“I hate ice,” I told a friend this
morning. I guess that isn’t exactly true...
I like ice in my tea and other cold drinks. I like an bucket of ice when
I’m staying in a hotel room. What I should have said is, “I hate to walk or drive
on ice.”
Over the past few days, ice on the
highways led to multi-car/truck pileups, cars abandoned on roads, and slide-offs
into ditches. Short drives turned into nightmarish hours-long journeys.. Last
night, ice-covered I-70 was closed down in several places due to accidents and
people waited in traffic jams for hours.
In other words, it’s time for
retired folks like me to not take a chance on an accident. I always say that at
my age, if I break a hip, they will put me down.
Ice has never been my friend.
Several years back I fell on the ice and smacked the back of my head. “I broke
my head,” I told my sister-in-law when I made it to her door. I have never had
such pain in my head before or since.
I’ve always been petrified to drive
on ice. Jim was always protective of me, and when bad weather struck while I was
away from home, he would call to find out if I wanted him to come and get
me.
When Jim was in the early stages of
dementia, I trusted him to drive me to work on icy days. After slipping and
sliding my way to the car, I’d hand him the keys.
In time, the progression of the
disease made Jim turn inward, and he no longer noticed bad weather or worried
about how I was going to drive on ice. This forced me to become more
independent about driving during inclement weather.
I learned to navigate icy roads to go
to work. Some mornings, just as I was about to feel halfway comfortable, I’d
round the corner, getting ready to head down the hill, and I’d see cars in the
median, in the ditch, and flashing lights of highway patrol and tow trucks.
Now, I can just cancel most
appointments and avoid the roads…and ditches. I can spend the day being cozy
and warm and not taking any chances on breaking my head.
Copyright © February 2018 by L.S. Fisher
#ENDALZ
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