ice capades

To celebrate the end of the semester, the college girls in the bible study I lead had dinner at Olive Garden last night. For anyone who has never had their “sausage and pepper rustica”, I highly recommend it. The dish consists of penne pasta mixed with sliced sausage, green peppers and onions and a marinara sauce. Add a little bit of fresh parmesan, and presto! Instant culinary masterpiece.

Between the Chardonnay, delectable dinner, and mix of lighthearted/meaningful conversation, I was feeling quite content as I drove out of the parking lot towards the highway at the end of the evening. Little did I know...

For anyone reading who doesn’t live in San Antonio, yesterday was a bitterly cold, rainy, and windy day. The temperature dropped below freezing in the early afternoon, and ice was expected to be a problem on the roadways. With all of this in mind, I drove especially carefully on my way to the restaurant. However, the drive home was a different story. I had just turned onto the southbound access road of 281 and was slowly increasing speed to enter the freeway. Out of the corner of my right eye, I noticed a minivan pull into traffic, but did not think much of it until I realized they were attempting to cross all three lanes in order to cut in front of me just 30 feet from the entrance to the highway.

Immediately I realized at my rate of speed (about 45) I was going to hit them. I slammed on my brakes and began to skid forward on the icy road surface. Simultaneously, the minivan slowed down and was almost parallel to me in the road. Before I could even think, I pulled my car over to the left into the small patch of grass that separated the onramp lane from the rest of the highway and came to a stop. My heart was racing. As soon as the minivan realized I had stopped, it continued onto the highway. Meanwhile, all of the other cars attempting to enter the highway behind me had stopped. Graciously, they all waited for me to pull out of the grass and back onto the onramp and merge into traffic.

A few minutes later, one of my girls called me and asked if I was okay (they had seen the whole thing from behind me). I was fine, and my car was fine, thank God. I am thankful that I was not further north last night where others in our city were not so fortunate. But I hope I never have to drive late at night on icy roads again.