I’m remembering things today. Wonder what was in those dreams last night. Not sure. I wasn’t thrilled about my dreams when Clover shook my arm and woke me this morning, so they must not have been good. But I’ve been remembering all day what it feels like to go speeding down the road with the top down in the old yellow MGB. Such pure pleasure. The breeze through my hair, tugging on my hat and threatening to dislodge it. The warm summer air smelling sweet, and the noises of the road, the engine, other traffic.
I think one reason it gave me such pleasure was the blasted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It almost got me, and God spared me. Oh, my husband was also fighting for me, and he raised Cain with the doctor in charge of my case and got him to finally make a decision, and treat me with something, instead of just letting me die. Things were pretty dire, I will say. At that point, both my kidneys and liver had failed, and I was swollen and weak, in terrible pain, and had encephalitis, wild hallucinations, and was going into a white tunnel. I had not slept for about six days, because I couldn’t. The pain was so intense.
Then the doc did give me a massive dose of antibiotics and I woke in the morning, when the nurse took my temperature. I will never forget how excited she got, raced from the room waving that thermometer around and shouted, “It broke!” And that day I swear it seems like the entire staff came to visit me. And while I was very weak, and my hair was a matted mess, it was clear I was going to live. It was a miracle.
And rain on my face felt like a magic blessing. Sun shining on on my skin felt like the very touch of God Himself! Smells, how heavenly, wind in my hair, on my face, the touch of my husbands hand! Hugs from my family, my kids, so precious, my mom, my sis! Miracles do happen. I pray often for others that they feel that love.
But the car, took six weeks of recovery before I could drive. When I could, it was just the best. The throaty growl, the steady rhythm, the sound of the wheels, the air rushing around me! A kid in the other seat, and I was off on a wonderful adventure, just driving. Around the lake! Down an unfamiliar road, a venture of discovery! The top down, all the elements of God’s creation around me, what a thrill.
How I loved that little car. I taught all my children to drive in MGB’s. Four on the floor, clutch, if they could drive those, and park them, they could drive a Mack Truck, I told myself. That lovely yellow thing got painted dark red, and given to my oldest for her sixteenth birthday. My sweet guy got me another, a 1979, same dark red. That one I used to teach both the other two how to drive in, and that one went to my youngest daughter, when she went off to Richmond to college.
Then, I got a VW cabriolet. What a wonderful car that was, too. I’ve always loved my cars. They represent freedom like nothing else ever did. And I still love to drive!