It's a Jungle Out There

As I've said before, I have a comfort zone within which I travel here in the sprawling town of Atlanta.  This comfort zone absolutely does not include interstates.  We're fortunate enough to live in a part of town where I can find almost anything I need using neighborhood streets.  

Southern hospitality pretty much stops the moment you start seeing signs for Atlanta.  Going 70-75 in a 55 will result in someone flying around you, on the right, while most likely flipping you the bird.  And for those of you who are polite enough to signal your intent to change lanes by using your blinker, don't bother.  That will be met with the other person actually speeding up so as to prevent you from going anywhere.  Oh, and a note to city planners everywhere.  Sixteen lane highways should NEVER wind anywhere.  Those lovely, tight S-curves around Courtland Street and Grady Hospital are death traps.  

So needless to say, I hate driving on the interstates here.  But yesterday I sucked it up.  I strapped my Ladybug into her car seat and headed up the Connector to pick Sunshine up from her play date.  It was raining, which I hoped would slow people down a tad bit.  Wrong.  I still cringe when I think about how fast people here fly down a rain-soaked highway.  I only saw two spin outs though.  And the massive accident that closed all eight lanes of I-75S was south of my exit.  

Driving on the roads here forces me to confront my worst nightmare on an almost daily basis:  that my children will perish in a car accident.  It's not specific to Atlanta.  But the drivers here are exponentially more aggressive.  It's made the whole play date situation difficult for me.  It's hard for me to let someone else drive my child around.  I'm starting to let go a little, and  I haven't requested a status report when they arrive at their destination.  But it doesn't stop me from worrying.   God help me when it is my child actually driving the car.  I can't even begin to imagine the ulcer that will result from that milestone.