In mythology, the returning hero not only comes back more mature and stronger, but also brings something new that is beneficial to the community.
–Stuart Brown
Yesterday, I peed in a cup in my car on I-40. Truckers and travelers and workers were all around trying to make their way to important destinations. There we mostly sat waiting as people lay dying in an accident just a few cars ahead. Several stationary hours passed as the snow, completely indifferent to our collective living, dying, and aching bladders, piled up around us all. When finally we were able to move again, I had to turn back. After a five hour journey, I wound up exactly where I began: The same, but not.
I’m still a bit sore from these lessons, but here is what I learned from the experience:
1. I have very few people who care enough to listen to my daily dramas. These people can’t fix my problems, but I’m extraordinarily grateful they care enough to listen and relate in some way. (I love you. Thank you.)
2. All the toilet technology in the world won’t help when you’re trapped and need to pee on the interstate in a snowstorm. Still, I think we can do better America.
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 10, 2011 at 6:19 pm
planejaner
Oh–how horrific to be a near-witness to tragedy–and have the all too human need of having to go–life, death…always entwined.
I had a similar experience a few years back–all I wanted to do was to get home with my kids to watch a movie with them before their bedtime–we had left my mom’s house a bit early so we could drive the 2 hours home and still see the new disney flick…
big accident, nowhere to turn around…7 hours later, and we’d all used the cup…
thankfully, my kids don’t remember their mom having to cop a squat over the travel mug.
bleh
blessings
jane
February 11, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Lunar Euphoria
The old “cop a squat over the travel mug” maneuver is not as rare as I thought! I’m kinda beginning to feel like I’m in an elite club now. 🙂
The question then becomes: Toss the mug or keep it? (snicker)
February 10, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Skattur
😦
After you told me you’d been sitting there for an hour I knew that accident must have been seriously bad.
After we hung up I worried about ya and started to call you back several different times but didn’t want to distract you if you were driving again. Mom did call me later and told me you had to turn back. Sorry to hear it but happy your safe.
Oh and btw…Wendell said, “ya do what ya gotta do!” 😉
February 11, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Lunar Euphoria
Yeah, I wasn’t driving — the police officer just blew his siren at me endlessly like I was supposed to automatically know what that meant. There wasn’t anywhere I could move!
July 15, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Enlightenment, Day 186: A Heart Flung Open « My Little Spacebook
[…] In February I was stranded for hours on the interstate in a snowstorm while people died in a horrible accident a few miles ahead of me. In March, Akasha died. The natural disasters that occurred on a seemingly […]
September 29, 2012 at 10:21 pm
This Week on the Farm: Flowers! « My Little Spacebook
[…] commutes, floods, earthquakes (over 800 in fact), entire flocks of blackbirds falling dead sky, getting stuck in horrible snowstorm, and generalized chaos, the quiet is welcome. A friend shared this song with me recently and we […]
October 10, 2013 at 1:19 am
I apologize in advance… | My Little Spacebook
[…] will go to enshroud this truth with their propaganda. The problem was made personal with some unfortunate business that occurred on I-40 in a snowstorm. Then that summer I learned that Japan is not the only country wildly ahead of us when […]