I have always believed that I am a resilient person, which has made life easier when things go wrong but I must say I have had at least a couple things happen recently that have really tested not only my resilience but also my skills in all areas. One of these events would have been enough to at least make some question your faith or actually get some serious religion the other just a test of endurance in a natural environment where it was just bound to happen.
Are you intrigued yet? Ok the other day I am driving home from work on Delaware RT 1 South at the Dover Air Force Base and I was fortunately in the left lane when a plane flying about three feet off the ground enters the southbound lane going north. Yes I said,” north” and it was coming right at me and at least 50 other cars, luckily I was one of two cars come up on it first and I was in the furthest lane away from its entrance onto the highway from a gravel pit road. Now let me just stop a moment and say you kind of expect planes to possibly fall from the sky in that area you hope they never do but you think of the possibility; while the huge C5’s are flying what feels like inches from your car overhead as they land next to you. You never really expect a Cessna to almost effortlessly float out into the highway, like a slow motion action movie; yes that is contradictory but then again so is a plane driving on a highway. I braked and then since it was out of control and you didn’t have an idea where it might go next I realized quickly it’s headed towards me. I then move quickly into the left shoulder and then hit the gas avoiding the thing from hitting me.

Am I rattled, distressed, freaking out? Hell yes I was. I look in my rear view to see everyone going all different directions trying desperately to avoid it hitting them. I am shaking like a leaf and I do not shake like a leaf, and I realize that I better stop and pull myself together. I then realize I better call 911 and they ask if I’m on the Dover Air Force Base and I yell,” NO it’s on the highway.” calmly she says,” Yes we have received many calls.” Before she hangs up, I say, “OH. MY. God!” I am still rattled and then I realize no one is passing me. I was the only one to get away from it and actually keep driving. I wonder is it a terrorist? Not such an out of the realm of possibility thought; it is heading for the Air Force Base. Is it going to blow up? Is everyone O.K.? I have to vent so I call my Aunt and cuss a lot, as I do in Exclamation especially when I’m stressed. So then I get back on the road and think I have to get home, I have to see the news, no one will believe this.
So now I am thinking how many of my lives have I used up? I’m like a cat that way. That incident made me realize again, how quickly I think in an emergency and how resilient I am. The plane belongs to the Air Force Base, they were training a pilot and the plane had some kind of failure and they couldn’t stop it or so the news said. I wonder if that pilot is/was as resilient as I am? I joked that he or she may have a new career and when someone at the Air Force Base asks who wants to be a forklift driver, that person may be the one to raise his or her hand. Fortunately, no one was hurt and one car ran into the guardrail trying to escape it. I would have done the same if I were further back on the highway.

The next thing is just an annoyance but once more pushed a bit too far and now I am maxed. My sister and our friend Kathy were here for the weekend, we attended a funeral of a longtime friend of mine on Friday and I was fine, sad but fine. Then on Sunday all the water from the hot water leaks all over the place and I am tested once more and I respond quickly, precisely with some calm bodies around me as I spazz out and dive under the house to turn the water off and then the electric, and lastly unhook everything after draining to replace it. I think I freaked poor Kathy out but she held steadfast and helped me through, because this time I do not hold up well under pressure, kind of like the hot water heater. I get a new one that night. I took off work 1/2 day in the afternoon to go home and fix it myself, it is actually pretty simple and somehow it just doesn’t work, after many hours of work, I am very frustrated but not as bad as the night before I have no energy to rant and rave. I realize it is time for some professional help; no not psychological. I call a plumber the next morning. Since I did half he was here an hour and ahhhh, breath, bathe, and back to work.

So ok, I am resilient. I bounce back even if I freak out in the middle after making quick, snappy, accurate decisions… I bounce back. Pull myself up by my bootstraps, with help some friends, family, and I am off and running again. Now I need a massage.