Zen and the art of surviving Motor Vehicle Madness

I was all decked out, sparkly jewelry in place, birthday gift at my side, cruising along the 118 minding my own business.  The road seemed especially bumpy, which wasn't far from the norm on the 118, which has always been a rather bumpy ride. So, I changed lanes to see if the fast lane was any better, but no it wasn't.  About ten seconds after I changed lanes I felt a KABLAMO on my rear end, I looked back there and there was a strip of something flying behind me, my car swerved, rocked on two wheels and really tried to get away like a bucking horse. FYI, apparently 80 IS a little fast.

 Now, I have been in accidents in the past and normally my heart explodes into my throat and my body buzzes with adrenalin. Oddly, that didn't happen.

In the past two years or so I have been working with myself to be more Zen about life. Instead of trying to control every detail and getting all stressed when things don't go as I think they should, I have recently been breathing deeply and moving on. After all, there really is very little we CAN control and the number one thing on that short list is how we react to the world around us. So, as I regained control of my car, flipped on my hazards and moved slowly across the five lanes, I was at once irritated I would likely be missing the party I was all dressed up for, considering what I was going to be doing in the next half hour ( mainly changing a tire and standing on the side of the freeway) , and proud of myself for regaining control of the car and NOT flipping over.

Seeing the mass damage my fucked up tire caused  in the blow out would normally have sent me into a panic, but my new found view let me breath deep and move right along. 

Nothing I can do about the bent metal at the moment.  Once I checked out the damage I called out to my support team, namely my husband  (who really couldn't do anything since I had our only car) and my brother.  Just as I was trying to remember  what the man at the dealership had told me about where my spare was four years ago, a man in a bright yellow vest appeared.  My first thought was that it was Cal Trans and I was busted for littering  the freeway with the broken pieces of my tire, but no, he was a member of an elite force of people with trucks whose job it is to rescue stranded people with busted ass tires.

  I had never heard of the Metro Freeway Patrol, a free ( sigh of relief) service that drives up and down the freeway helping stranded motorists. I informed him my brother was on the way, but he went straight to work helping me figuring out where the spare was, and  getting right down to business changing the tire. Being the kind of woman who likes to do for herself, I offered to help with the tire change a few time, even considering my nicer clothes, but he would have none of it. He finished up just as my brother arrived to be my safety escort home. 

I am still very proud of how calm I remained during the whole debacle, and how calm I still am considering the fact that I will likely be out a car until I win or inherit a large sum of money.

While I am not a religious person, the Zen philosophy of letting go that which we cannot control has given me a new, calmer, view on life. You should try it, it's pretty super.