By 12:30AM Sunday morning, all the de-stressing I’d done since Friday came unraveled due to another round of idiotic things beyond my control.  I was livid, and finally said, “Hey, screw this.  I’m getting the Hell outta here for a while.”

     I drove northeast for several hours until I couldn’t find a cellphone signal.  Then I drove into the mountains in the middle of nowhere … someplace with absolutely no chance of hitting either a Digital or Analog cell signal.
     As angry as I was at certain things that were going on, I figured it would take longer than it did to mellow out.

     I sat.
     I thought.
     I relaxed.
     I communed.
     I slept.

     Eventually, after spending twenty-four hours away from everything — work, people, computers, cellphones, cats, asshats — I woke feeling refreshed and optimistic.
     It was time to depart.

     It was rainy and foggy most of the weekend.  Coming back over a huge mountain in the car, I was having a little trouble not skidding down the hill at times thanks to the deluges of water over the road at intervals.
     About halfway down, I began to pick up speed quickly, hydroplaning downhill at a breakneck pace — no brakes, no steering, no control whatsoever.  The car turned better than a one-eighty, and, terrified, I stared to back to my left only to see a fast-approaching wall of limestone at the bottom of the hard-left switchback.
     Shocked, and unable to do anything to avoid impending doom, I braced myself for what would well have been a massive impact.

     In that instance, every hope of peace & quiet, and the objectivity I’d gained by getting away, was dashed.  Every scintilla of serenity I’d earned myself the previous day was shattered in an instant by yet another unavoidable event that was completely beyond my control.

     In bracing myself, I must have inadvertently turned my wheels back to the right a bit more than I expected.  Suddenly, a wheel stuck, the car one-eightied again, and I found myself going down the hill in the narrow, oncoming lane.  A few flicks left and right, and I had control again!
     I managed to slow my descent, veer left, then right, and narrowly avoid a second problem — going through the guardrail and plummeting hundreds of feet into the valley below.

     It lasted but a few seconds, but seemed like forever.  My heart was racing.  At the bottom of the mountain, I pulled to the side of the road and thanked my Maker for getting me through.
     Yet again, I’d come out unscathed.

     The last couple of months have dashed my persective a bit.

     Sometimes I forget how lucky I really am.

     I’m lucky not only for getting away unscathed, but also for the fact that every time something happens, I come back stronger than before.

     Some people aren’t so fortunate.  But knowing that I’m a lot more than just the sum of my experiences helps tremendously.