When you get older, it's inevitable that you will have at least one Towanda moment in your life.  You younger folks can watch the video below to know what I mean.

A little background:  I was getting over being sick, better, not great. I was still taking steroids so I was a little irritable, suffering spontaneous bouts of impatience, mild road rage, etc. 

So I pulled into the drive-thru at Arby's on my way to work. One car was in front of me, ordering.  Now, most of us have been going to drive-thrus for years. We know exactly what they have on the menu, for the most part, and know exactly what we are going to order when we get there.  It takes about 30 seconds.  The person in front of me is ordering, the voice on the speaker asks "will that be all (?)", and she launches into another order.  Did I mention I was irritable?  Then she s-l-o-w-l-y order all her food. The voice in the speakers asks, "will there be anything to drink with that?"  OMG, she hadn't even ordered her drinks???? Have you ever sat in a car and loudly talked to the person in the car in front of you?  Finally, she moved ahead. 

I got to the speaker and ordered my milk shake with no whipped cream. Took all of 10 seconds. That's because I'm a drive-thru pro.  Then I pulled around. There was one car at the window and ridiculously  long-order lady was behind that car.  They apparently had told the driver of the car at the window they had to wait a bit for their order and to pull up and they would bring it out to them.  We've all been there.  They tell you to "pull up."  They really don't mean pull up and we all know that.  They mean, drive forward, get out of the drive-thru lane, park the car once you are out of everyone's way.  Somebody didn't get that memo which has been in existence since drive-thrus became a thing.

So the car at the window pulled up about two car lengths, IN the drive thru lane.  This isn't the type of drive thru where you can just whip around the car in front of you, there are buildings on both sides of you and where the building stops on the right, very high curbs.  Long-order lady pulled up and they told her the same thing. She pulled up one car length, which was as far as she could go. 

I was at the window, my order was handed to me, and the lady at the window said, "I have no idea why they are doing that, but you might have to back out the drive thru.   Re-read the first few sentences of this post.  And keep in mind that of all the fender benders I have had, the majority of them have consisted of me backing up. I don't back up well and those car cameras aren't worth a flip and I am surely  not even going to attempt backing up around the drive-thru at Arbys.  It's not happening.  

It is especially not happening when there is a working vehicle in front of me with a person at the wheel that can get out of the way. So about this time the person holding up the line got their food. Long order lady pulled up one car length and stopped just like the car in front of her had. What are the odds of running into two people that have no idea how to navigate a drive thru, on  the same day in the same drive thru on a day when my patience are shot? 

I blew the hell our of that horn!!!!!  She moved quickly. It may have been the sound of the horn. It may have been the scowl on my face, which I'm sure she saw.  I have no idea what I would have done had she not, but I was in no mood for games. It's like this. I'm older, I've seen a lot. I've been through a lot. I have raised two girls. We are planning a wedding. I'm not afraid of prison and I have more insurance!

Our Christmas Tree this year!

I try to look on the bright side of things. Sometimes it's what keeps us going. Our dog would be a good example of that.

She turned 15-years old this month. and she's the sweetest thing. But, she's a little gassy.

This seems to occur in the evenings when we are all hanging out in the living room watching television. It's on these occasions she reminds us she's a little gassy,

My husband (whose usually always sitting downwind, while I'm usually upwind) goes, "ewwwww". I'm like, "at least we know we don't have Covid." She's like our own personal Covid test. And we get tested about once a night!

Always look on the bright side!

My youngest daughter posted on Facebook yesterday about the 13-year old son of a co-worker that was riding his bike and hit by a car in his neighborhood. He is no longer with us. I thought of that little boy all day long.

Then, on the way home, just before 8, and almost dark. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the glint of a reflector on a bicycle pedal just to the right of me. It shook me up a little. I wasn't that close but I could have been. I didn't see the dark-skinned man in the dark clothes with the dark hair at all.

It was at that point, I did what I think anyone else would have done. I stopped my car and told him I couldn't see him and I was going to follow him home. I followed him about a quarter of a mile down the highway. We started on four lanes and ended up on two.

Fortunately there wasn't much traffic and only a few cars came behind us. They were polite, no one tailgated, and they appeared to be very understanding of me driving about 10 mph, (however fast a bike goes) following the older man on the bicycle.

I imagine he had ridden to town and time had gotten away from him. He thanked me when we reached his driveway. I drove off knowing if I had driven past that man and he had gotten hit by a car whose driver didn't see him, I never could have lived with myself.

Just a reminder to make sure and help your neighbor when needed.

And a special prayer for the family in Atlanta missing their child tonight.