This afternoon, as I began backing out of my parking spot in the warehouse store parking lot, I saw something that made me stop. Lightning fast, I pulled back into the spot, grabbed my cell phone and jumped from the car - shouting at the kids to stay in the car.
.
As they unbuckled themselves and looked behind us, they wondered how I'd hit that grocery cart and then saw the man lying on the ground and were quite distressed that their mother had obviously run over an older gentleman in a parking lot.
.
Nevermind there wasn't a collision or that our car wasn't even near the man nor the cart. As I ran across the lane, I was shaking and wondering how I might help this man, lying on the pavement next to his car. I wondered if I should assess his condition before dialing 9-1-1.
.
In a matter of less than 5 seconds, I had put the car in reverse, back into drive, into park, dug through my purse and jumped from the car, yelling at my kids, across the lane to the other vehicle. During seconds 6-8, I shouted shrilly, "Sir! Sir! Sir! Are you awake?! OHMYGOSH-WHAT-HAPPENED?!?! ARE-YOU-OKAY!!?!?!?!", was relieved when he turned his head and looked at me. And then I felt like a total ass when he looked up at me and said, "Yeah, I'm fine - just looking for my spare hide-a-key. I think it's fallen off and lost."
.
I asked him if he needed help getting up from the pavement and after he declined, I walked back to my car, my heart still racing. The girls wanted to know what that was all about and I told them what I'd seen and what I'd assumed and they relayed their own stories. We chuckled nervously and then they asked why I was still shaking.
.
And being a homeschooler, I explained the process of adrenaline. It was notsomuch awesome. Though, we did thank God it was a false emergency and regretted the unuse of super-human powers.
