THTSL Manual - "Punctuality"

“Punctuality”

“I was so far behind that I thought I was first!”

    ~ Anonymous jockey

It’s been a family curse for both my brother and me that we absolutely need to be on time. It is simply unthinkable for either of us to ever be late, and in fact, to be far too early is considered quite normal. Crazy, I know, but that’s how we were raised and we’re stuck with it.

There is one time in my life that I can say with total conviction that being a few seconds late meant that I was free to go on living for at least another day. Since that was a full year ago already, it’s safe to say that the warranty on that one is still good. Here’s what happened….

It was the day for my car’s yearly inspection, a chore most of us look forward to about as much as getting a bad case of diarrhea. The car dealership was a good haul away from my house across town, and in a very busy district to boot. That meant I had to get a somewhat early start, just to beat morning rush-hour traffic, which here in Philly is a given, and is something you want to avoid at all costs, if at all humanly possible.

The morning started out badly enough: I couldn’t find my current insurance card.

“Impossible!” I thought. “I always put it directly into the little black plastic folder, then in the glove compartment,” I continued chiding myself.  But it was no use: the little black folder had everything in it but my current card. So, for the next 10 or so minutes I continued to dig through the pile of mail on my husband’s desk. At last! I found the envelope and sure enough, there were our current cards! So far, so good.

I looked at the clock. It was 8:05 a.m. and I needed to be at the dealership by at least 9. At worst estimate, it would take at least 40 minutes to get there, so I was still OK. I relaxed a bit and poured myself one more cup of coffee.

Almost on cue, Max ran to the back door, insistent on going out for the second time that morning. I swear, he has this weird radar and knows exactly when I am in a rush, and will do his best to slow me down.

“Oh, no! Not now, Max!” I pleaded with him. But, he was pretty adamant about it, so I opened the door and let him out. I used up about 5 minutes making sure the gate was locked, there was water in his bowl, and the gazebo’s door was opened for him (the world’s biggest and most expensive ‘dog house’). I went inside, dumped the rest of my coffee out, put on my jacket, grabbed my keys and headed out the front door.

I got into my car and realized my empty water bottle from yesterday was still in the little holder in the console. Since I go nowhere without water to drink, I ran back in the house to grab another bottle from the fridge. Back outside I ran, only to realize that I had forgotten to bring the old bottle back inside with me.  I had to make a split-second decision: leave it where it was, or toss it in the garbage can, about 20 feet away from me at the end of the driveway. I took those valuable 6 or 7 seconds or so to toss it, growing very agitated with myself.

At last, I started up my car and backed out of my driveway onto the busy street. It was by now 8:20 and if I really pushed it, I’d make it to the dealership by a little after 9.  Traffic was a bear – as always – and all I needed to do was to go about one mile, then make a turn off the busy highway onto a side street. After that, it would be to just stay on course for the next 8 miles, and I’d be at my destination.

I put my blinker on, signaling I wanted to turn right, and edged my car onto the shoulder of the road,  as all Philadelphian’s do (actually, it is a right- turn lane), and began my turn onto the side street. There was no traffic light at this intersection; cars had to pay attention to the flow of traffic, wait their turn, and hope for the best.

Suddenly and totally without warning, a few seconds after I was already  into my turn,  the car that had been coming up behind me on the highway went whizzing by -- where I had just been -- at full-speed,  and plowed full-force into the car coming out of the side street onto the highway! The sound of the crash made the hairs on my body stand on end!  In my rear view mirror, I saw both vehicles spin around, and get all tangled up, almost as if they were wrapping around each other. A third car hit, and then a fourth! Behind me on the highway was a total mess of twisted, battered metal hulks and broken glass. Gasoline splattered the entire road, turning this scene into one very dangerous diorama.  All I could think of to do was to finish my turn and get out of the way! With so much gas all over the road, and cars coming upon the scene from all directions, and all of them moving too fast to realize what had just happened, it was best for me to keep going for a little ways, then pull over and dial 911.

It occurred to me later on that had I not stopped to toss out the empty water bottle – which took me all of 6 seconds to do – that it would have been my car that was behind the one that hit the car coming out of the side street, and I could have been involved in that accident, making mine car number 3!  Had I been just six seconds earlier, my day could have turned out far differently. I thanked God and my guardian angel for protecting me and I swear I could hear a tiny voice someplace deep inside of me saying, “Slow down, Marie…just learn to slow down a bit.”

Life is just amazing sometimes. For once in my life I was running late – and it quite possibly either saved my life, or at the very least, saved me a world of grief.  Yes, there is a lot to be said for punctuality; and there are also some good things to say about being a little late once in a while.

I know he won’t believe it, but I think I should let my brother know!