Essay #6 [Timed effect essay]

It’s the first snow fall of the year and I’m thinking about how much the rest of the winter is going to suck.  Winter roads are one of my biggest challenges.  Just getting out of the driveway is hard enough as it is, but once my tires tread onto what used to be dry tar, the effect it has on me lasts until the final snowflake melts.  It has an effect on the way I drive, my anxiety level, and it effects my paycheck.  None of which I enjoy.

The road I travel often is already hard enough to ride on during the other seasons. The turns, the hills, the bumps, and pot holes.  Once snow and ice are added onto it, it only gets worst.  I have studded tires which are a big help on the traction, but when the snowflakes are dropping my speed limit NEVER goes past 20 miles an hour.  I become more cautious.  My hands are gipped tight at 10 and 2.  My head faces straight forward.  I observe my surroundings by only shifting my eyes.  With white covering the road, the only way to make sure I stay on it are the tracks from a vehicle that traveled before me.  My only hope for survival is hoping they stayed on the road.

Anxiety is nothing new to me when I’m driving, but add the dangers of snow and ice and it rises to a level where I should probably me medicated.  On each turn there’s a slight jerk which for a millisecond causes me to think I’m going to lose all control.  Driving my small little 1996 Geo in the winter is not an easy task.  I can feel my heart pounding the second I open the door to get into my car.  It seems like I take one breath every five minutes.  My brain goes through every horrid scenario that could happen while I’m driving.  I could slide into a snow bank.  What if I slide through the stop sign and get hit by an 18 wheeler.  Someone else could lose control and hit me.  The possibilities are endless.  Once I get to my destination and take that deep breathe of relief, my body returns to normal.

Lastly, when the roads are real bad, its going to effect my paycheck.  It’s not that I have a long way to travel, but that ten miles seems like an endless road trip.  Usually work is slow in the winter anyway, so some days I luck out and I’m not needed.  Other times I prefer to just find someone that lives closer who will work.  Giving up a shift that makes up a third of my paycheck isn’t an enjoyable thing either way.   However, I’d rather have less money in my check then risk having an accident or even my life.  $7.50 an hour is not worth the anxiety, nor putting along the treacherous winter roads.

Sure, I’ve lived in Maine all my life, and have been driving through the winters for 8 years now.  It’s just something I will never get used to.  Perhaps I’m a bit over worried about it, but every year when that snow flies the roads are my first thought.  For three months out of the year I will drive like an old lady on a Sunday ride, have anxiety while doing so, and miss out on making a bit of money.  I don’t think the effects the roads have one me will ever change.