Sitting Beside a Highway

This one had to have its own blog. Really. Saturday i had a busy day. Got up at 8, went to run, went to Yoga, worked on my handstand, then went home. Showered, picked up the cake that I made practically from scratch for my mother, went to the mall to buy a gift for the wedding we were going to THAT EVENING, and hopped on 85 with the AC blasting (I used buttercream frosting and I was nervous).

Normally when I’m on a highway I’m looking two ways- front and rearview. That’s about it, unless I’m passing someone. Occasionally I’ll look around but I try to focus when cars around me are going between 70 and 100 mph. So it was some kind of divine intervention that got me to look over at the exact moment I did. There, in between two railings of the small metal barrier on the side of the highway, a dog lay, panting. Alive. With cars flying by less than 4 feet from its head. I, of course, panicked but went too far to pull over. So I did the next best thing. Called my mother for the number to Animal Control (she keeps all this information in her head), then decided to turn around at the next exit. Which shouldn’t have been a big deal but was, because I’ll be damned if the next exit wasn’t EIGHT MILES UP THE HIGHWAY. Then i had to drive EIGHT MILES BACK DOWN THE HIGHWAY. At this point I was thinking more about this poor dog, worried it would be dead before I got back, thinking about a dog I hadn’t picked up last year, and thinking about irresponsible pet owners.

I finally turned around almost ten miles back down 85 south, and then drove up to the overpass the dog lay under (at least she had chosen a shady spot). I pulled over. A man was standnig in the grasses (did I mention we were on the INSIDE of the highway?) and I for a moment had a fleeting hope that….

story to be continued….