My day started at 5:00am when the alarm clock rang. I was on duty today. I have showered the evening before so I just brushed my hair and dressed up in my 2 layers of thermal clothes before donning on my scrub suits. Breakfast for today: just coffee and Nutella sandwich. While munching on my meal, I boiled some water to cook noodles for the kids. At exactly 5:30 am the phone rang. Who could be calling this early? It was an automated phone message from the principal of the school of my 4-year-old daughter announcing that the school will be closed today due to severe weather conditions. Shortly thereafter, I received another call from the principal of my 9-year-old daughter. Another automated phone message announcing the same thing. So much for the warm breakfast noodles. Who knows what time the kids will wake up?
My husband turned on the TV to the weather channel. A snow storm will hit the city by noon according to the meteorologist. I hurriedly kissed him goodbye. Better to have an early start if I wanted to be home by noon. There was no trace of snow on my drive to the hospital but by 9am, it started to fall. I only had one patient to dialyze for the day and no add-on. By 1 pm I had already finished cleaning up and was leaving the hospital complex. When I opened my car door, I was wondering why there was a cover on my windshield. I then realized it was all covered with snow. For the first time I took hold of the brush scraper and started brushing off the snow. It was soft and feather light. I looked around and seeing that no one was around, I grabbed a handful and tasted it. It just melted in my mouth like some kind of cotton candy!
As I drove home, I made sure I was way below the speed limit. I was driving only at 40 miles per hour for the speed limit of 55. All the other cars were doing the same. I saw one car, not an uncommon sight, parked on the shoulder of the road... another casualty of the weather. I had my first taste of snow driving a day before and though it was really scary because I could not see the marks on the road, I was able to survive it without any accident.
Now, I felt the road was less dangerous because I was driving in broad daylight compared the other day. Then as I was approaching the stoplight some 500 meters ahead, it suddenly turned to yellow. Remembering my husband's advice to pump on the brakes a couple of times and not hit it hard all at one time, I did as instructed. I carefully pump on the brake. To my surprise, I felt the front wheel skidding to the left and my rearwheel skidding to the right. I released the brake immediately and turned the steering wheel to the right. Then I pumped on the brake lightly again, seeing the red traffic light looming ahead. The front wheel was now skidding to the right and the rearwheel to the left. Instinctively, I turned the wheel to the left now as adrenaline was rushing to my head. I felt myself zigzagging and was not sure if I could really make it just before the intersection. I was now holding my breath saying my prayers real hard. Just as I saw the barely visible line demarcating where to stop, I pumped on the brakes again and to my huge relief, the SUV just halted just at the margin of the line. I looked to my left. Fortunately there was no car on the middle lane. When I looked at the right, the red car behind me skidded to the shoulder and went through the intersection despite the red light. I was shocked. He could have hitted me from behind! I was still wide-eyed from shock as I fumbled for my cellphone and called my husband. I just needed to talk to someone. "I skidded! I skidded!"
I was glad I had my bluetooth on so I was able to talk to him, debriefing myself from that "near-miss" as I drove the rest of the slippery road going home. I was now just going at 20-3o miles per hour. Then the tricky downslope came to my sight. There was a truck to my left and a couple of cars in front and behind me. I could not skid again this time or surely it will be a huge accident for all of us. As I descended slowly, I felt my car gaining momentum. He adviced me to use the manual control to shift to a lower gear. I did and then I slowly half-stepped on the brake dreading to feel the wheels skidding again. It did not. I survived the downhill alive! Finally, I arrived home and saw a couple of kids sledding on the hilly part of the compound.
I was definitely shaken badly by the driving experience that I took on the kids' invitation to play in the snow. After eating lunch, we all dressed up warmly and headed to the backyard and played to our hearts' delight. We made snow angels and threw snow balls. But the best part of it all was just lying on our backs, looking at the snowflakes falling from the white sky and catching it with our tongue. There on the soft bed of cool snow, I felt safe and embraced by God.
My husband turned on the TV to the weather channel. A snow storm will hit the city by noon according to the meteorologist. I hurriedly kissed him goodbye. Better to have an early start if I wanted to be home by noon. There was no trace of snow on my drive to the hospital but by 9am, it started to fall. I only had one patient to dialyze for the day and no add-on. By 1 pm I had already finished cleaning up and was leaving the hospital complex. When I opened my car door, I was wondering why there was a cover on my windshield. I then realized it was all covered with snow. For the first time I took hold of the brush scraper and started brushing off the snow. It was soft and feather light. I looked around and seeing that no one was around, I grabbed a handful and tasted it. It just melted in my mouth like some kind of cotton candy!
As I drove home, I made sure I was way below the speed limit. I was driving only at 40 miles per hour for the speed limit of 55. All the other cars were doing the same. I saw one car, not an uncommon sight, parked on the shoulder of the road... another casualty of the weather. I had my first taste of snow driving a day before and though it was really scary because I could not see the marks on the road, I was able to survive it without any accident.
Now, I felt the road was less dangerous because I was driving in broad daylight compared the other day. Then as I was approaching the stoplight some 500 meters ahead, it suddenly turned to yellow. Remembering my husband's advice to pump on the brakes a couple of times and not hit it hard all at one time, I did as instructed. I carefully pump on the brake. To my surprise, I felt the front wheel skidding to the left and my rearwheel skidding to the right. I released the brake immediately and turned the steering wheel to the right. Then I pumped on the brake lightly again, seeing the red traffic light looming ahead. The front wheel was now skidding to the right and the rearwheel to the left. Instinctively, I turned the wheel to the left now as adrenaline was rushing to my head. I felt myself zigzagging and was not sure if I could really make it just before the intersection. I was now holding my breath saying my prayers real hard. Just as I saw the barely visible line demarcating where to stop, I pumped on the brakes again and to my huge relief, the SUV just halted just at the margin of the line. I looked to my left. Fortunately there was no car on the middle lane. When I looked at the right, the red car behind me skidded to the shoulder and went through the intersection despite the red light. I was shocked. He could have hitted me from behind! I was still wide-eyed from shock as I fumbled for my cellphone and called my husband. I just needed to talk to someone. "I skidded! I skidded!"
I was glad I had my bluetooth on so I was able to talk to him, debriefing myself from that "near-miss" as I drove the rest of the slippery road going home. I was now just going at 20-3o miles per hour. Then the tricky downslope came to my sight. There was a truck to my left and a couple of cars in front and behind me. I could not skid again this time or surely it will be a huge accident for all of us. As I descended slowly, I felt my car gaining momentum. He adviced me to use the manual control to shift to a lower gear. I did and then I slowly half-stepped on the brake dreading to feel the wheels skidding again. It did not. I survived the downhill alive! Finally, I arrived home and saw a couple of kids sledding on the hilly part of the compound.
I was definitely shaken badly by the driving experience that I took on the kids' invitation to play in the snow. After eating lunch, we all dressed up warmly and headed to the backyard and played to our hearts' delight. We made snow angels and threw snow balls. But the best part of it all was just lying on our backs, looking at the snowflakes falling from the white sky and catching it with our tongue. There on the soft bed of cool snow, I felt safe and embraced by God.
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