Speedy Recovery

So here's the thing about overtaking another car: If the speed limit is 60mph and you'd like to go 63 or so, but the car in front of you is going 58, you'll probably have to speed a bit to get past him - especially because passing someone usually alerts him to his turtley speed, and he'll often step on the gas while you're passing instead of after you're safely out of the oncoming traffic lane. Because of this phenomenon I was pretty gun shy about overtaking on our latest trip to Denver, seeing as my last ticket was still staring at me from the dashboard.

On our way home on Wednesday, Nick and I were talking about the mechanics of passing (as you do when you spend a total of 28 hours in the car together over the period of about a week) when a long, clear passing zone presented itself, and we'd been putt-putting behind a black SUV and a pick-up truck, both going 58mph, for a koon's age.

"Gun it." So I did, passing both cars and getting back into my lane well before the oncoming car zipped by. I didn't go over 65mph, but I was aware I had to speed to do it.

"Perfect pass, babe. Textbook."

"Yeah, knowing my luck -"

Flashing lights. QUE? Flashing lights coming from the black SUV.

I actually laughed because what are the chances of THAT?? Unbelievable! Then got annoyed because there was no reason to have been pulled over. Copper said I was speeding (didn't mention my speed though because he knew it was negligible) and that he pulled me over because the pass occurred around a (wide open, unobscured) slight turn in the road.

As you might have surmised, it's very hard to me to keep my mouth shut, but I resisted the temptation to say, "Then why is this a passing zone? Hello!" Anyway, the officer seems to have used the whole thing as an excuse to check my papers or something, which were all in order, and I did not get a ticket. Very glad of this because I would have fought it, and that's the last thing I need to be doing these days.

What I needed to be doing was getting home to our girls, making dinner, doing a few loads of laundry and packing for France, which Nick thought would be a fun thing to do the next day.

Before all this happened, we had booked spring break flights to go visit Nick's family near Nice and Grenoble, but I'd assumed that all that had changed. Wednesday's post-op visit revealed Nick is still not detecting any light, so the chances of his recovering any vision are now close to nil. They're giving it another ten days and if it's still the same we'll begin prepping for a glass eye. Nicolas saw no reason to sit around those ten days when we could be in France. And changing our "free" awards tickets would have cost $600 anyway, so a no-brainer, right?

So I'm writing from St. Raphael, after a wonderful meal of lentil soup, salad with gorgonzola dressing and Ilona's fabulous chocolate mousse. Nick can't eat salad yet, but he's upstairs right now heading to la-la-land a happy camper. Seeing family is good for the soul.

PS to Jarrett: Happy Birthday, Bro!