Day 23 – What’s a Lie You Tell Yourself?

note: this is part of #bloganuary where each day in the month of January, there is a prompt that we can write on.

I am not a fan of answering this one. I have thought long and hard about if, or how, I would even respond. In short, this is probably better answered by someone else as I am not so good with this sort of evaluation.

Since I am not a fan of answering the question as asked, instead, here is a lie that I do not tell myself, but one that Dawn says about me. In good humor, of course.

See, I really like to drive. And, on occasion, I may or may not do things that could be considered reckless. For example, my passing a slow driver, using the entrance ramp designated for merging traffic may be considered dangerous. However, if I am looking to move around slower traffic and the lane is open, it seems perfectly reasonable to use it. I may have also used the median to pass slow moving cars on the highway.

She may have called bullshit on my reasoning.

I did also completely misjudge not one, but two sets of elevated railroad tracks and jumped my SUV with the family in it.

In order to have context for the rest of the story, you will need to be aware that Dawn will not so calmly say, “YOU ALMOST KILLED ME” on the rare occasion that I err. She says this with all seriousness, but in a joking manner of course. But not really. HAHA The conversation will go something like this:

Dawn: Dude, you almost killed me, us! (and yes, she does say dude)

Me: Babe, I disagree. I am just better than the drivers out here and taking advantage of opportunities that others are not skilled enough to take on.

In fact, in the SUV jumping example, it was totally on accident. However, due to my superior driving skills, I should be recognized here for avoiding disaster. I came up on one set of tracks, poorly marked on a 55 mile an hour country road. Not a problem. I will just hit the brakes hard and minimize the impact on the other side. Except that once I crested the first set of tracks and prepared for the decent on the other side, I see another set of elevated tracks immediately following. It was with great mastery, in true Dukes of Hazard meets Captain Sully form, that I was able to navigate this potential catastrophe and maintain the safety of all occupants of the vehicle. It was so good that our youngest, seated in the third row of the full-size, land-yacht SUV, shouted out “do it again, Daddy!”.

Here is where the story totally plays to my favor.

This happened on family day, on our way to cutting a Christmas tree. The very next year, at the same farm, there was a Jeep that had gone over the same set of tracks. The driver, not near as talented as myself, was unable to navigate the obstacle and there, in the ditch on the side of the road, was his busted up SUV with a broken front axle.

There ya go, love. We did not almost die. Myself, and our SUV, were way more awesome than that person and I was in total control. (She may have called BS on this response as well. )

Look, the bottom line here is that I had some deep, sad commentary of what lies I tell myself but I just could not do it today. I would rather debunk Dawn’s made up near-death experiences at the capable hands of my next level driving. It is a far better read.

Ok, sure, there have been a couple of times, maybe three at the most, that perhaps I should have taken a bit more caution and just driven like an old man. But hell, if I did that, we would not have all the exciting stories and memories to share.

Right, my love? wink, wink.

The good news for Dawn is now that I am an old man, car rides are much more calm.

I can not tell a lie though, I am a skilled and capable driver, that occasionally does something stupid.

Have a great Tuesday y’all.

t.t.