Not Today, You Don't

It was a reminder of why the Almighty is in charge, and not me.

The day was not going smoothly. I wanted to get all of my errands done early, and the world conspired against me. Kittens that wouldn't stop crying kept me in the house longer than I would have liked.

I got Silverstream to the vet, and they demanded more paperwork. I went to the shelter, got the paperwork, went back, and signed the vet authorization myself. At that point, I was ready to dare them to challenge me on it. The vet I usually go to doesn't even bother with the forms, she just takes down my kittens numbers.

Later than ever, I finally got to Whole Foods, a/k/a Whole Paycheck, for my 5 items a week I get there. Bigger Girl was with me, as she had money and wanted to get a few things for herself. I also stopped at the car rental place to inquire about prices for next year's vacation.

On the way out, I saw why I had been "providentially hindered" all morning. The Lord wanted me in that place at that time.

A red truck pulled out, hit a black car, and slowed a bit. I began to pull up behind it to stop, call police, say I was a witness, etc., when the driver of the truck decided to just keep going.

"Not today, you don't!" I yelled as adrenaline kicked in. I took off after the truck, telling Bigger Girl to grab a pen. As she started looking, I picked up my pencil that I keep for crossword puzzles when I wait for them to get out of school and handed it to her. She picked up a piece of scrap paper as I wove through traffic, almost losing the truck when another car pulled between us.

Around that car, and I pulled up close. The driver decided to lose me by pulling into a business, and that was a mistake. There was someone trying to pull out, and when the truck stopped I stopped behind it and yelled out the tag number, 3 times to make sure Bigger Girl got it.

I may have been hyped a bit, but I did not want a confrontation with the driver of a big truck like that. I envisioned a very big guy, or a lady much stronger than I, and as I had the tag number, I decided to head back and make sure the other driver was okay. I dialed 911 as I drove the few blocks back, telling them I had witnessed a hit and run.

When I got back there, an officer who had been simply passing by had stopped. I walked up to him and handed him the paper, telling him it was the tag number. He looked a bit stunned at first, then relieved. A man who had seen the accident from the other direction had also stopped, and we both gave our name and phone numbers, telling what we had seen.

Because the other person had seen the truck from the front, he knew the driver was female, young, with a pony tail.

Then I went to the driver of the car. New, first time mother, 2 weeks since her C-section, first time getting out of the house, mother-in-law was home with the baby, she was only going to the store around the corner for a few minutes. I stayed to make sure she had help coming, and then got myself out of the way.

The other driver, the one who ran, I know she was scared. I know she panicked. I know she thought she would be in trouble. Well, she is unfortunately in more trouble now.

I'm not a hero. I'm just a mom, and a janitor, and a Sunday school teacher. My gift isn't tracking down criminals, or even young girls who hit and run. I'm better at changing diapers and mopping floors. On this day, though, the Lord put me at the right place with little traffic and set a scene that made my blood boil for just a moment.

Some days you can hit and run and get away with it. Not that day, she didn't.


Today is:

Apple Butter Stirrin' Festival, Coshocton, Ohio (through the weekend)

Belfast Festival at Queens -- Belfast (through the 30th)

Chrysanthemum Festival -- Japan (through Nov. 15)

Chung Yeung Festival -- Hong Kong

Dictionary Day (Noah Webster's birthday)

Ether Day

London Bridge Days -- Lake Havasu, Arizona (through the weekend)

Maintenance Personnel Day

National Gaelic Mod -- Scotland (Gaelic Language Festival)

National Liqueur Day

St. Hegwig's Day

Sweetest Day

World Food Day


Anniversaries Today:

Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England's first residential college for women, 1869
Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah, 1875


Birthdays Today:

John Mayer, 1977
Kellie Martin, 1975
Flea, 1962
Tim Robbins, 1958
suzanne Somers, 1946
Angela Lansbury, 1925
Eugene O'Neill, 1888
Oscar Wilde, 1854
Noah Webster, 1758


Today in History:

Jadwiga (yes, a she) is crowned King of Poland, 1384
Olivier van Noorts' ships reach the Philippines, 1600
George Washington takes Yorktown, 1781
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined, 1793
Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers, 1843
Dentist William T. Morton demonstrates the effectiveness of ether, 1846
Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" is published, 1847
John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, 1859
The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered", 1869
John Harwood takes out a patent on a self-winding watch, 1923
The Disney Company is founded, 1923
Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army, 1940
Fidel Castro is senteneced in Havana to 15 years in prison, 1953
The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1964
In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act, 1970
Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1973
Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave, 1978
Wanda Rutkiewicz is the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1978
Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders, 1986
Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated, 2002