Once we packed up the box truck and got on the road it was about 5 or so. We drove for an hour or two and then stopped for dinner. My brother was already tired from the day so he wanted to stop for the night at that time. I thought that was silly, so I insisted we press on. He hopped back in the truck and Amy and I headed back to the
Acura. About 35 minutes into the drive going about 80 mph the entire time, she realizes that she has forgotten her purse back at the restaurant. Our cell phones would not work in the mountains, so we had to use our emergency light signal to get Shawn to stop...there was nowhere to pull over, so we pulled up along side him to let him know. He is a very respectful nice guy overall, but when she told him what happened, he just glared at her and rolled up the window. I then had to do damage control the entire ride back because she was so upset. I just kept thinking thank god we were not at the place we had chosen to stop for the night...4 hours out...then I would kill her!!
By the time we hit our hotel that night we were all exhausted and Shawn was sick and grumpy.
We all only slept for 3 hours!!
The next day I saw antelope and buffalo and turkeys running wild. That was amazing!!
The ride was easy and enjoyable. Amy shared her life story with me. She told me all about her ex husband...that was a SEX ADDICT that she was with for 8 YEARS!!! Finally. Someone that knew what the hell I was going through without really thinking in the back of their minds that he was just a cheating jerk and that I should have seen the signs earlier. I felt like I was listening to myself talk. All the deceit, all the words offered up by him...all of the feelings...I KNEW EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
He had this weird thing that AK does not though...he used socks to you know what. Then he was so messed up that he would stuff them everywhere...like in the COUCH or under the bed etc. She figured it out when she would clean and find socks stuck together and stuck in weird places. Then when the CAT started dragging them around because she wanted to play with them and Amy stepped in a wet one, she hit the roof and went ballistic on him...he laughed and said that the socks liked it.
OMG. Thank god for small favors...at least that is one thing I did not go through...well AK can thank god. I would have strangled him with them. I am sure once a wet one was shoved in his mouth he would be cured of that little problem though.
Anyways, as we talked for two days about her ex and as I confided in her about AK, I started to FEEL different. Like acknowledging the TRUTH to someone else was like releasing all the shame and hurt that I felt daily. I looked at her and thought "
my god you are BEAUTIFUL and TINY and talented...yet he
still did all those things!!" For so long I have blamed myself, like my weight gain was the reason, but looking at her I realized that I could be miss America and that AK would still do those things...that they are just not WORDS...he is INCAPABLE of being the way we both want him to be. I felt like I was not alone in this experience for the first time. I also took comfort that all the doubt and trying and anger that I feel she felt as well. I felt relief that she made it out of that relationship and that she is happy with my brother, who loves her madly and would never hurt her, when not so long ago she thought the world ended with the loss of her EX!!! We laughed and talked and cried at our stories, and the strangest thing happened...I let go of the emotions behind it and started grasping the reality and facts of where we are and what that means. I felt calm. I felt sad, but okay...like I understand that we are NOT going to be together, and that I will be okay someday. I decided I would tell AK when I returned.
Then we hit Chicago and all hell broke loose!! Our picture perfect ride went from bliss to B.S in a matter of SECONDS. We hit a WALL...a real full blown WHITEOUT. People were WRECKING ALL OVER THE PLACE. I know this sounds like I am exaggerating, but I AM NOT. Two cars to the left, three cars to the right, cars in the ditch...then when we had to suddenly stop with traffic, WE almost caused a pileup. Yep. I was on ice, an incline and a bridge all at the same time, so when we tried to start moving again the
Acura laughed in my face. I stayed calm, but could see car lights starting to come up behind us and that they could not see us in the whiteout, so several HAD TO go into the grassy snow covered median or hit us. Thank god they chose the snow. FINALLY after what FELT like forever, the car got some traction and moved slowly forward!!
Then there was a 17 car pileup!! Rigs were crushed and toppled...it was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. I was SO afraid after seeing all those small wrecks and NOW THIS. We got off at the next exit only for the woman running the booth to explain that they were shutting down the highway so if we wanted to press on we HAD to do so now. She felt that it might be a couple of days until it reopened with the forecast and the amount of wrecks!! I cannot remember WHY IN THE HELL I wanted to go on, but I did. I think I just wanted to get home and away from Shawn and I was thinking that this weather was a burst and we would get through it. No. Of course not. My body hurt SO BAD from gripping the wheel so tightly and for tensing up until we got home...10 hours later.
At one point while in the fast lane, Shawn slowed down rapidly and again we were on ice (which was freaking EVERYWHERE) so we fishtailed and I all I said was "WE ARE GOING TO WRECK" to try to prepare Amy because with NO exaggeration it is a miracle of GOD that the semi next to us did not slam into our back end as he passed in the next lane. Once I understood that we were not dead and I could breathe again, my calmness was gone and I SCREAMED at the
top of my lungs at the windshield and Shawn "I HATE YOU, YOU
MF'er!!!" See Shawn was oblivious to the fact that his damn truck was covering our windows with sludge every moment possible and that his stopping without warning was ready to KILL US on a regular basis and that I could not see around or over him to try to prepare. The overprotective big brother that he is, he wanted to stay as close as possible even though we told him not to!! After that I was done emotionally. I fought back tears SEVERAL Times. I MADE Amy talk to me without taking a breath to help me stay calm. Shawn was on his damn
crackberry that kept automatically going to
VM when we called, so when we RAN OUT of windshield washer fluid and I could not see except for a 1/2 inch triangle at the bottom of the window that man had no damn clue...while his truck kept piling it on!! THEN AMY lost it. SHE WAS TERRIFIED because she could not see and PISSED that he was not accessible. We turned on our blinker and got off at the next rest stop...he noticed at the last second and got off with us. Miss meek growled
get off that conference call NOW when he got out of the truck. I would have laughed had I not been so shaken up!! I went inside to try to get my head back in the game away from the car.
We hit black ice and fishtailed MANY MANY more times,especially under each bridge and I started anticipating it under them and my eyes would well up knowing it was coming!! I insisted on staying in the slow lane and going only 40mph the entire rest of the trip home. Once we reached Ohio we were welcomed by a double loaded fed ex truck jack knifed in the median and I almost threw up!! Poor Amy...I kept thinking about me screaming like a psycho at the window and I can only imagine what she was thinking about joining our family!!
I will never take a road trip ever again unless the weather is good. No joke I think I had post
traumatic stress disorder for two days following. I did not want to drive or be in a car and just seeing and WALKING in the snow and ice made me feel ill!!
I am better now and home safe!! I have learned my lesson...make shawn move on his own next time...ha just kidding!!
**Funny side note. I called DDG when we stopped and was telling him how scared I was etc.
When I returned home I found out that while I was on the highway, he crashed his car here in Ohio. Kind of ironic huh??? He is okay btw!!