Railroad X-Ing

Thursday, February 08, 2007
I need to call my doctor and get on blood pressure medicine b/c I'm pretty sure all my normal heart functions and blood pressure measurings will never be the same. Today I was driving home from a work wedding shower, and a long boring meeting to end the day, and it was a parking lot on the roads.....I was venting on the cell phone (mistake number 1) and I was waiting at a light at this street I HATE being near (mistake number 2)....and all of a sudden I could hear the railroad arms and the clinging, but I couldn't see them BECAUSE I WAS IN FRONT OF THEM (mistake number 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 to eternity---which is where I would have gone had my subconcious not naturally stopped behind the rails (though not the railroad arms). It's a strange track that is diagonal across an intersection, so everything is slanted and pretty well spaced out. It's a place I can't really remember seeing a train.....I couldn't move back, I couldn't move forward.....but luckily after freaking out, I realized I was just behind the railroads tracks and they had enough room for the train to go by. I've never held the break down so firmly (and put the car and park, and I was searching for the emergency to make sure I didn't roll forward). The truck next to me actually had the arms of the crossing fall on it's hood, and I was close enough to the rails that it just missed the back of mine.....I think I'd rather have been hit with the arms than to have been that close to the rails....but I survived, minus a conductors attempt at a deadly glare (and I don't blame him)....and now I've made it home to pass along a little advice: Pay attention to rail road crossings, even if you think they might not be in use! In addition, because I survived I can give you a little news-I sent my application in for the Reading Specialist Position with the district....I don't know if I want it, but I feel like this year I can't pass it up, so I'm kinda hoping nothing else comes up in the meantime because they would be completely ticked if I retract my application again. I would really be sad to leave a full time teaching job (though I'd still have a classroom, I'd be pulling groups of struggling readers). I don't think I can continue to let 'opportunities' go by though....I figure there are a lot of classrooms that I could head back into if I don't like it, but there is only so long a door is opened in specialized areas. We will see....

1 comment

Msheepers said...

Whoa! What a scary situation! Glad you're okay.

Good luck with the Reading Specialist Position.