Near Tango with Out of Control Mini Van - 


So, yesterday at one of the many flea markets I attend a speeding driver hopped the curb, ran down 6 metal temporary guard rails and headed straight for me.  If you have ever heard metal hitting metal like in a car accident...it is a terrifying sound...I could not get out of the way...to the left was furniture I could not have gotten over in time...all I could do was jump forward and literally wrap myself around the Sycamore tree his front right side was heading straight for..rails which were hooked together were being pushed in and right behind me was where two were connected...he rode the outside of them...in moments like that where time is instants...you see no out...you surrender...I closed my eyes and held that tree...not thinking of "what is next"..."he is going to hit me"..."will I die?"..."will it hurt?"...I did not hear the people who later told me they screamed assuming they were going to witness me getting hit...


Miraculously he corrected back left...leaving the rails pushed within 16" of my back...the wonderful women and men who came to me had to unwrap me from the tree...I remember that all the loose bark where I had been holding on was rubbed off and the tree was so smooth just where my body had been...all the bark pcs on the front of my shirt and jeans...I heard "I got part of the license plate", "let me get you water" and being led to sit on the grass around the other side of the tree where a sweet woman peeled me a delicious orange.  Having very good blood pressure my heart rate calmed pretty fast...the hubbub went on around me people comparing the plate number they saw, the color of the van and that he had a woman in the passenger seat that never changed her expression and looked straight forward the entire time...there were children in the back...that he did not stop and continued his careening drive down the street and out of site.  


Shortly thereafter i got up...walked back to my booth and that is when by the drag marks of the rail feet and the tire mark in the gravel we were on how close he had come...noticed the 100 year old mirror which had been shattered...all the mirror shards...only a small cut on me...that when he corrected he had run over the clothing rack of booth one over from mine...and hit the chair she had been sitting in minutes before...surreal is all I can say...I heard myself repeating the story over and over as those from across the plaza came to hear the tale of what they saw...one woman said "you may feel this later, like when you get home"...I said "I'm fine"...she was right...when i got home after a dry, question filled, fact blah, blah text discussion with a Cop acquaintance of mine...she was right...once i hit the driveway I thought this is the second time I have come so close to bodily harm, maiming...or worse via automobile...tears came...why was I saved when my car rolled down an hill, an oak branch pierced the windshield, sheared off the driver seat at the half way point...the seat i was in...went right through the middle of the seat, through the back seat and to the back hatch...yet after all I had was a very bruised and swollen right arm...this branch was 5" around...but that is WHOLE OTHER STORY...


An officer came yesterday...he was blase about the whole thing...I wear a knee brace from another incident...again a WHOLE OTHER STORY...his first words "you didn't just put that on 5 minutes ago?"...ha ha...said he had conflicting plate numbers, didn't think they would find the driver, I should go through my insurance for shattered mirror...gave me an Information Card...said he is probably long gone...all i could think or you will get back in that squad car and be called to the scene of a death and there the green mini van will be you pompous *#@hole...then he had the nerve to say "whoa he came close, look at the drag marks"...excuse me please...I have known more than a few wonderful, honest, compassionate, still human police officers...but I have known more who carry around something or have learned something or adopted something from their power or past that makes them..."different" than the "Protect and Serve" they pledge to uphold...


Anyway, again near miss...another reminded to let go of the bull#*!@....people, places, things, thoughts, past, present and future...and again the recurring thought of recent..."Life is Short" even if it isn't some way cut short for you...so universe I GET IT!!!...and above all...THANK YOU....to all who came to me yesterday and peeled me off the tree, called 911, got plate number, peeled an orange, got me water, sat with me, gave advice, had genuine concern for me and even my friend who made a joke to break the "whoa! " I was in...I GET IT...


xoxo