Parking Garages

Do you have any road rage in you? I don't. Usually. It takes a lot for a driver to really irritate me. But it does happen. It certainly happens to Andy. He likes to call other drivers names. It doesn't go much deeper than that (thank goodness). He doesn't try to race or pass or give the finger. But sometimes I fear that another driver will read his lips or hear him and they could get angry. See...it's not me or Andy that I don't trust. It's always the other driver that scares me. They may spill their coffee. Take their eyes off the road for a second. Answer the phone. Look down at their phone. Change the song on the radio. Any little movement where they aren't concentrating and they could hurt someone else.

 I work in a Level 1 trauma center. That means we get the flight for life patients...the worst of the worst. I did my share of consults in the ICU's when I worked weekends. I saw patients that I couldn't tell if they were male or female. Most of them not breathing on their own. Usually their eyes are closed and often an emotionally broken family member stand vigil at the bedside. Holding a hand or bandage covered limb. And one thing is for sure, there are too many machines beeping and tubes and wires and nurses and and and. This is enough for me to take my time when I'm driving. You don't need to actually see that for it to give you goosebumps and scare you to death. But when you're driving, you may forget about that. That vision doesn't take over the rage of what that other driver did to you in that instant. You are BOTH trying to get somewhere. Why do they go first, faster, slower, starting and stopping, swerving... Right? Not right.

Remember-everyone is going through something hard today.  I know I have posted about this before but it never hurts to be reminded. 

I luckily have moved to working in the cancer center (Which is equally as wicked in the terribly scary health care area). There is a parking garage here, which is nice because many of these patients are too sick or tired to walk far. I parked there one night and as I entered I turned on my car lights because it's darker in there. I obeyed all the traffic signs. But someone else didn't. There was absolutely no accident. I just let the person go their way because I was being super cautions-waiting for them to yield and thinking they may not. As I turned the corner behind them I was a little irritated. Why wasn't that driver worried about who had the right of way? Why did she just assume my car wouldn't be there? She didn't even pause.

But then...I remembered when Eli was a baby in the hospital. We parked in the parking garage every day and came and went. I got used to driving in that garage. I knew just where each speed bump was and I knew where the cross walks were-where there might be sick kids and families trying to cross. But driving in and out of that parking garage was a source of tension. I couldn't wait to get in, park and see how my new baby was doing. When I left, I couldn't wait to get out so I could get home and get back. Always rushing. In and out. And those garages, it's like the never ending circle and lines of parking stalls. You could never get to that exit level.  

So as I followed this lady in the parking garage, I was slightly irritated-but I reminded myself of that time in my life, when I couldn't get out of that garage fast enough.  I remembered that we were in a parking garage for a Cancer Center and I did what I always strive to do....I tried to let it go and move on. Parking garages aren't something we practice driving in every day and maybe she forget the rules. Or maybe...just maybe...she just got diagnosed with cancer and she had no one in the car with her to keep her calm. Maybe she got news that her cancer had spread. It came back. Or, even better-maybe she found out that her daughters tumor shrunk and she couldn't wait to share the news?  Maybe the driver had a low blood sugar. It's hard to know.  So I gave her the benefit of the doubt and let it go. But in my heart, I worried.  I worried about all my friends and family.  All my boys.  All my relatives.  All the special people in my life that are rushing because that is how life is. One big rush these days.

Remember to slow down.

Obey the traffic laws, even if you are late, or the person in front of you doesn't.

 Be cautious so you don't get hurt and so you don't hurt someone either.  Never text and drive.  Be careful if you use your phone at all.  Be alert and remember that people are going through hard stuff every single day.