On this Day (#SOL17 2/31)

(I have found a new source of inspiration: Facebook memories!)

On this day ten years ago I was teaching in LaGrange, Indiana.  I was driving one hour and twenty minutes one way to my first teaching job.

The morning of March 2nd was cold. It had snowed but not bad enough to be closed or to have a delay. Obviously very different from my experiences here in Alabama where if there is even a chance, school is canceled the day before. That is a story for another day though.

Anyway, I was on my drive to school in my newish Saturn Ion that I bought just for the long journey. (I wanted to make some money that year!).   I was cruising down I69 south from Kalamazoo, Michigan going maybe 40 mph due to road conditions when all of a sudden I was blown right off the road by a huge gust of wind.  My car spun around and ended up in the median facing the other direction.

I was terrified.  Crying.  Freaking out.

And perfectly fine.  Thankfully.

My first call was to Casey.  I called crying, blubbering about what happened.  His calm response after making sure I was ok was to call for assistance.

Oh yeah. Duh.

So I hit my OnStar button (it was included free for six months) and waited patiently for someone to come get me unstuck from the median. In the meantime I called my school and told them about my situation.

They expected me just to go home, but I didn’t see the point in that: I was closer to school than to home, so once freed, I headed to school.

The best part of the day?  The concern expressed by my students.  “Are you okay?” “Oh my gosh! I heard you were in an accident!” “You should have gone home to rest.”

At least I could be thankful for some sweet kiddos!

That is the scariest driving experience I have had to date (knock on wood).  It was so fast. It took me completely by surprise.  Thank goodness there were no other cars nearby because it could have been much worse.