(Snowball in Better Times)
I try to live in a state of gratitude all the time. Well, at least as much as possible.
I really am cognizant and grateful of all that I have, especially my husband, my cats, my friends, chocolate, my health—not necessarily in that order every day.🤪
But today, I feel like I could’ve easily been killed—so I am truly SO grateful to be simply alive.
To give some context, I got my driver’s license when I was 40. When I was young, I never had a desire to drive. Maybe due to my relatives having a penchant for getting into accidents that they seemed to manage to escape from without a scratch- to them or the car—but I was traumatized.
Getting a license at an “advanced” age means that I am a fine driver, but nothing like David, my personal Mario Andretti.
So when David called this afternoon and told me that he had forgotten an essential piece of equipment he needed for a shoot he was doing in an hour at Roosevelt Island, I jumped into Snowball (my Mini-Cooper), plugged in Waze, and raced through the city, traversing a maze of bridges and streets in 35 minutes.
Five minutes after dropping off the equipment and starting home, my steering wheel locked. This had happened once when David was driving, and he managed to get it unlocked. But that was David. Somehow I was able to pull over, call David and ask how he did it. He told me about a switch that put the steering wheel into different modes- but that didn’t seem to help. I turned off the car completely, turned it on again—and the steering wheel worked!!! …only to have it lock again after two minutes. I stopped my car and started it again about 5 more times, as I worked my way through the side streets of Queens. Then, I got into heavy highway traffic. There was nothing I could do but just hang on and use all my weight to turn the wheel when needed. Thankfully, I was going straight most of the way!
After an hour of tortuous driving, I was almost home. I had to exit the highway by making a  right turn from the highway to a street. Not only was it almost impossible to turn, but the turn  that I did make was so wide, I turned into the oncoming lane. Miraculously, the car in that lane was going slowly and was able to avoid smashing head on.
How I got the rest of the way home and into my garage, only God knows.
What I DO know—is that I am grateful to be alive. I am grateful for Barnes who lays on my neck like a big feather boa; for oud perfumes; for the people who I work with to bring my documentary to the largest audience possible; for grapes; for cat videos that make me laugh; for Cooper who challenges me to stimulate his critical thinking skills; for the first flowers in Lobsang’s garden; for every night cubbies with David; for my forever posse; for the possibility of a new position and thus a different chapter; and I am grateful that I know enough to be grateful. And malted milk balls, of course.
