Did you guys hear about the horrible traffic on Saturday in Calabassas? I survived it.
On Saturday I had a fool hearty plan to spend the morning with a friend in Ventura Beach, and the evening with friends in Orange County. For those not familiar with Southern California geography, that’s a crazy idea—Los Angeles lies in between Ventura County to the north and Orange County to the south. Doing what I proposed to do in 2 hours would mean that there would have to be absolutely NO traffic, and if you’re familiar with LA at all, you know that’s a laughable idea. We all have our moments of stupidity, and making those plans was mine.
Try as I might to get off the 101 and maneuver around the traffic, it just wasn’t happening. I was sitting in a long line of cars when I notice the air coming out of my AC was warm… my car was overheating, and no wonder because it was 105 outside. So I blast the heat, roll down the windows and try not to panic. For 2 hours I sit like this creeping down the 101 revving my engine when the thermometer starts creeping back up and talking to M on the phone to see where I am in relation to any kind of relief.
I feel really weak explaining how badly I took this whole experience. I know people in other parts of the world deal with this and much more regularly. But I was at the brink of a panic attack. My body was overheating, I was overwhelmed and stressed with the thought of my car breaking down, and there was no escape. I was trapped in this horrible situation until the traffic broke.
It was a horrible and humbling experience. I am spoiled and sheltered and really have no idea what it is to suffer. Once my air conditioning doesn’t work and I don’t have cold water, I loose my shit, and I’m not sure that’s OK. Of course in the moment it’s hard to have a global perspective. It’s impossible to think about other people having it worse than you when you feel like you’re going to die. But I hope this has taught me something—to be thankful for the lavish life that I have. Sometimes things break, stuff is lost and situations don’t turn out the way you’ve planed. But if you can be happy with yourself, thankful for your chance at life and realize that all this could be taken away at any moment, you’ll be able to weather the storms with grace, and keep calm in the midst of suffering. At least that’s the idea.
I hope you all had great, relaxing weekends free of traffic and car trouble. Thanks for this little detour and for letting me share a more personal story with you. Back to our regular programming tomorrow.
(photo via Instagram)
Tags: heat, overheating, summer, traffic
This is such a good reminder! It’s crazy what we take for granted.. A/c & a working car, namely. I got stuck in that traffic for 3 hours (for what should have been a 30 min drive) do I can attest to the fact that it was AWFUL. I can’t imagine an overheating car on top of it