I am generally a calm, cool, collected, laid back kind of person. At least that’s what my friends and co-workers tell me. But, there’s nothing that gets my ire up more than when I’m driving along the road and someone decides to be nasty.

This morning on my way to work, I had to slam on the brakes as a deer jumped across the road in front of me. I remained another couple of seconds – as where one deer comes, others follow (and yes two more did follow). Just then a car came up on my tail and laid on his horn for a few long seconds. It made me want to yell – “what the f**k are you honking at?” (see discourse on f**k below).

It made me so angry. Immediately my eyes narrow and glare back through the rear view mirror. My lip curls. I shake my head vehemently. I raise my fist to the mirror and shake it. I then come to a stoplight, and I so want to hop out of the car and walk over to him and say – “Mister, control your blood pressure. Are things this bad for you already, this early in the morning?” What does he think? That I’ve decided to stop in the middle of the road to apply lipstick?

I try to maintain my cool, and think about my husband looking at me if I were to tell him that I had hopped out of the car to have a conversation. “Anne,” he would say, “That’s not a very smart thing to do.” (Of course, he did this once and got punched in the face).

So I sit tight, hoping that we would come to be next to each other at the next stoplight, so I could at least get a good glare in. But, alas, that didn’t happen. What is it about rude behavior on the road that makes me so mad? That turns a person who is FAR from confrontational into someone who wants to get into it with a stranger?

For the past few months, I’ve tried to be more than nice on the road…which means slowing down and letting someone from a side street enter the traffic flow…or slowing down when someone needs to get into your lane in front of you. A quick wave of acknowledgement and a smile is all I need to make me feel good.

I guess there is legitimacy to the term road rage. If road confrontations can turn a nice, normal, happy woman into a vengeful monster, just beware of the real crazies out there!

Anne

P.S. Now for the word f**k. It certainly is not part of my normal vocabulary. But when the need arises, there is no better word in the English language. Just saying it forcefully releases tension. So I save it for those special moments, when I really need it. It’s like therapy.