IS THERE SUCH THING AS DRIVING PTSD?

Because, I think I have it. 

Last week, Thursday, I went out to run a couple of errands and pick husband up from work. The weather was fine, a few snowflakes, but nothing serious. I get to Aldi (a cheap grocery store), just fine and look at all the fun things they have, and buy some coffee pads for the Senseo. Husband calls to let me know that he got a ride home. Which was totally fine because that would mean less wait time on my part. 

I needed to go to the PX to pick up some dog food and wanted to hit up the Com-misery (Commissary) to buy some eggs cause we were close to being out. However, the weather had different plans. I was not even in the PX for ten minutes and it was already stark white outside! Damn! I said forget it to the eggs, called husband to start cooking something for dinner, because there was no way I was wasting more time in this crazy snow than necessary to go pick up dinner.

I had a bad feeling about this snow. And boy was I right!

There are two ways to get to our house, the "regular way", which is up a pretty decently steep hill. And "the back way" which also has a hill, but typically less traffic, and the hill is much less steep.

I made the wrong choice that day... I went "the regular way". My mind told me it was the best way because that's the way most traffic was going. My stomach was telling me I should have gone "the back way". And man oh man, I should have listened to my stomach.

I kept trudging along. I got to a little bit of the hill, and I slid a little, but got traction again pretty quickly, I didn't think much of it. However, I had already begun shaking a long time ago, when I had to make the decision of which way to go home! The worst part of this route was that traffic was backed up, we were constantly stopping and going, and you know how well that works doesn't freaking work on a fucking sheet of ice!

I slid a little more (thankfully NOT backwards!) after another stop in traffic flow... And I think I was like, on my 5th cigarette at this point. (I know, whatever).

I came to a little intersection and I slid AGAIN pretty badly. I was shaking uncontrollably at this point, pretty  much freaking out. I kept the car under control pretty well, but decided to take this option to pull off the street, out of traffic, because there was no fucking way I was making it up the even steeper part of that hill.

I pulled off of the road and parked in a parking lot of a grocery store (time: 1730). I called Husband up, I tried so hard not to sound too distressed, but my voice was shaking so bad, it probably sounded to him like I had got into an accident or something! I told him that I couldn't get up the hill and I was parked in the store's parking lot. He was cooking, but turned everything off and headed my way, on foot. A half our or so later, he was there, with puppy to save the day! 

He said he would drive home. Goodness gracious... *sigh*. I just wanted to walk back home. Because this was THE MOST stressed, worried, anxious, and scared I had ever been. My husband is a GOOD driver in the snow, and I really trust him, but there is no way of knowing whether or not your car is going to slide into another! Especially since we were SLIDING when he was holding the BRAKES! Ugh. I cried. Yep, I feel ridiculous, but I did. I felt terrible for freaking out though, because I know how distracting that could be. The thing is though, this isn't OUR car! I didn't want to hurt it, or someone else's and have to deal with the consequences! I was practically hyperventilating! 

We were trying to get to "the back way" to go home. I had a bad feeling again once we got to the street that lead to it, there was a lot of traffic... A lot. I remember saying "there wouldn't be this much traffic, unless there was an accident...". We got to the main road for "the back way" there were three semis stopped at the stop light. I thought it might just be the stop light acting weird. But, we were stopped for a while, husband suggested I get out and take a peep. I did, this was when we realized that the trucks were sitting there, and their engines were turned off. Damn... There's really something going on here. I didn't ask the truck drivers what was going on, beings as there was little chance they would speak english to me...

There was a snow plow waiting behind us... He decided to drive up and see what was going on, we followed him. Damn, I was right, an accident! Taking up the WHOLE ROAD! I double checked Google Maps on my phone to see if there was another way to get home... Not really, but there was a way to get back where we started. We tried it out, and FUCK! The road was blocked with some ... concrete block things. We could SEE where we wanted to be. So we turned around -- on a very narrow, very icy, one side of the road had a guard rail, and the other an embankment. If we hit either of them, it would probably cause a little teeny bit of damage. I was still shaking with anxiety -- and went back the way we came... defeated.

Thankfully, "the regular way" maybe had some de-icer put on it while we were on our meaningless escapade so it was smooth sailing from there.

We got home in one piece with no damage to the car... (time: 1905).

To put this in a little more perspective... Where I was originally parked, on a regular day, it would have taken approximately 3-5 minutes to get home... That's right, it took us an hour and half to get home... Home was less than a mile away at the beginning.

Man, that was so stressful. Husband grounded me from driving the car we're baby sitting in inclement weather. Not because I am a bad driver, I made a FANTASTIC decision when I decided to pull off and park instead of continuing on that icy road, but because the car's tread is shit, and the breaks were freezing up. He wants me to be safe, and I agree, and love that about him.

Friday was spent all day at home, doing nothing. Oh, I did the dishes.

Saturday, we had to run some errands and it started snowing again... I almost started to freak out. Thankfully, it didn't come down much, and it was safe to drive in. Driving in the snow is going to scare me again, for a while, unfortunately.

Do you have any intense driving in inclement weather stories? Do you get freaked out and start shaking? I was shaking SO bad... I could barely walk at one point!