Driving Drained

Have you ever been out driving when you are so incredibly tired? You fall asleep repeatedly, time after time. You swerve out of the gravel and back onto the road when you suddenly wake yourself up. "STAY AWAKE!" you scream at yourself as you blast the radio to distract yourself from your sleepiness or turn up the air to make yourself too uncomfortable to rest. You tell yourself that you'll stay awake this time, as your body relaxes again and your eyes start to feel heavy.

The next thing you know you wake up to your car straddling the yellow dotted line. Your heart skips a beat as you correct your tires. "STAY AWAKE!" you scream again, pinching your own cheeks. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" You are ashamed of your actions, but you have to get home. You are so entirely drained, and nothing can keep your eyes open. Your head bobs forward, waking yourself up a third time.

Finally after an hour of this craziness, you pull into your driveway, not really remembering the drive home. You realize that the outcome of your travels could have been very different. You got lucky.

I got lucky tonight...I know that had I not woken up one of those times, I could have been in a ditch somewhere, dead. So, thank God everyone else on the road was paying attention! Thank God a deer didn't jump out in front of me! Thank God I didn't kill myself...Thank God I didn't kill anyone else.

Below is a poem I wrote about this topic when I was a senior in high school. Just thought I'd share it with you.

Traveling

With a long, stressful day behind me, home was just a country road away.
Darkness had set in hours earlier, and my lights shone brightly down a familiar road.
Body aching, eyes weary, I struggled to stay focused.

.............................................................................

Suddenly, my eyes shot open.
Instinct brought my Pontiac
away from the concrete guardrail.
Shocked and confused, I thought back.
How long had I been away?
Where had I gone?
I was completely unaware of
what had actually happened
but terrified, knowing what could have.
My eyes never again left the pavement.
And with the miles to come, I prayed softly,
thanking God for traveling with me.
For had I been alone,
who would have woken me up?