Two Dangerous Situations Mostly Avoided

I think everyone in the entire world has been waiting for the latest heat wave to break. Tonight was our turn to cool off, momentarily, with an expected brief but mighty storm. The weather guy warned his watchers of possible 60 mph winds and impressive thunderstorms.

Of course, this storm happens to arrive while I'm on my way home from work.

I thought I had timed my departure better, and had almost convinced myself while driving home that I was going to be lucky enough to miss driving in the rain.

Mind you, I've no issues with driving in the rain.

I mind driving when you cannot see the road through sheets of this needed precipitation beating down on my windshield so intensely that I cannot see any lines on the road.

I'm on the familiar highway going home, where the speed limit is 55 and the average driver is going 65, when the storm breaks.

(Not me, though! I've seen those hidden speed traps. I'm cruise control queen on this strip of road.)

Directly before the overpass, traffic had slowed down to 10 miles per hour! 10 MILES PER HOUR! (Did ya get that?)

Don't get me wrong, I totally understood the need for going so slow. I was just a little miffed that I had no other option. I considered pulling off on the shoulder to wait out this brief downpour. Yet, there was no shoulder, and the traffic behind me were being troopers and trudging on.

So, I continued. Slowly.

This patch of extreme rain lasted not even a half of a mile. Translating to less than 3 minutes of snail paced driving.

Which, I suppose is all fine and wonderful. Except that I have Tom's ice cream birthday cake in my back seat. And, I've yet to stop at the store to pick up more crack Diet Coke.

Anyhow, I finally make it home, through the intense driving conditions and after replenishing my addictions. I unload the car, leaving the cake for last. (He's not aware that I had made him a special vanilla and chocolate twist ice cream cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate and cherry cone dips! All the fixin's he enjoys most - yum!)

I bring the cake inside and his eyes light up. He knows he's got the 'hook-ups' with the decorator, so he's curious as to what the cake looks like.

I go to take the fogged-up lid off of the cake so he can get a better view. (Sounds simple enough, right? Done it a million times, right? No problem!)

Right.

The cake does this amazing half flip off of its base and starts towards the floor. Somehow (perhaps its my expert training) I manage to follow the cake downward and catch it, mid-somersault, with my bare hands and an edge of his wheelchair!

Wonderful. Pretty presentation gone. Chocolate frosting smudged parts of his chair.

Oh well.

Everything and everyone made it home in nearly one piece, right?

And, the cake still tasted great!