Close call

Since we were at Gertstock the weekend of Ken's birthday (he's 31, btw...so ha!), we celebrated here at home last night. I made lemon pepper tilapia with my homemade mac & cheese. And no, we did not have a veggie with it. This was a celebration. ;) The mac & cheese was a huge gift to both of us because I have not made it since January, which was when we discovered Henry's lactose intolerance. I was able to avoid a lot of dairy products while I kept nursing him, but this mac & cheese is not something I could've stared at without eating. Sorry, Henry. My willpower only goes so far.

Anyway, after dinner we decided that since I had been too busy to make a b'day cake, I would take us all out for ice cream. We packed Henry a Lactaid since he can't have ice cream, and we all got in the car for the drive to Dairy Queen in the next town north of us. We were less than a mile from DQ when we had to go around a sharp left-hand curve, and a car shot out in front of us, cutting across our lane of travel without stopping. I was absolutely sure we were going to collide, and in that split second before the impact I was expecting, I braced myself and started praying for the boys to be OK. I pictured us all being loaded into ambulances and my car (a lesser consideration, but it's only 5-6 payments away from being paid off) being towed off to a junkyard.

Thankfully, we did not collide. Somehow Ken slammed the brakes to the floor, and the woman cutting across our bow slammed on hers, and we stopped what must've been less than an inch away, given how close she and her passengers were to us when all was said and done. I thought the guy in her passenger seat was going to start mouthing off at Ken, but instead, he was waving his arms and mouthing, "Sorry, man." We all paused for a quick breath, and then we drove around them and continued on our way as I turned around to see how the boys were doing. They hadn't even noticed what had happened, thank God.

After that close encounter, we could've used a beer more than an ice cream, but we pulled into DQ and enjoyed what they had to offer anyway. And we took another way home to avoid that horrible intersection, which just asks for trouble. I'm so thankful my little family is whole and well. The alternative doesn't even bear thinking about.