Nad and I had an interesting encounter on Father’s Day. Let me give a little background before I get into the details of the incident.

On the way to NY for Father’s Day, Nad and I were discussing our driving habits. The scenario we discussed involved driving in the left lane at or above the speed limit, with someone tailgating us. While I’m one to move out of the way of a speeding car behind me, Nad is one to remain in place. Neither approach is incorrect; mine is one of a paranoid defensive driver (thinking that they will ram into me from behind), while hers is one that basically states, “I am driving at or above the speed limit, so that means the person behind is driving dangerously. There is no reason for me to move.”

I stated, “I get out of the way because if I get hit, even if I am in the right, the car will still be wrecked. What would I do next at that point? Get out of the car and fight the guy who hit me?” Nad responded that she would be inclined to whoop some ass in that scenario.

It is very interesting to see how roles reverse in the heat of the moment, as I will demonstrate below.

Southbound on Route 1, our five-hour return home was almost done. Four miles away from our house, we were put in the same scenario we discussed above - driving at the speed limit (40mph) in the left lane with a speeding truck behind us. This happens very often on Route 1, so it came to no surprise to us. After passing a car to our right, Nad makes the move over to the right lane after driving for about three miles in front of the speeder.

His horn blared. He sped up ahead of us, quickly shifted into the right lane, and slammed his brakes. Nad hit the brakes hard to avoid rear-ending him. He hit the gas, as did Nad. He then hit his brakes again after gaining some speed, forcing Nad to hit the brakes as well. This happened about five times over the last mile of the trip.

The story doesn’t end there. He makes a left - into our neighborhood. Nad and I thought the same thing, “This dipshit is one of our neighbors.” We turn and follow him. I suppose he figured that he had lost us, so he goes to his house and parks his truck. I didn’t let Nad finish putting the car in park before I jumped out and ran at him.

I started off by yelling at the guy, pushing him, and yelling some more. I had really lost my composure, stringing together various profanities. While I was the angry one, Nad was the calm one. I had always pictured things being the other way around.

Luckily, Kevin and Athena had been following us on the trip back home. Athena put herself between our neighbor and I and told me to get back into the car. I had retained enough common sense to walk away when she told me to. We got into our cars, and drove away.

There are a few details that I left out, such as Route 1 being slick since it had just finished raining, and the first time he slammed on his brakes we were moving downhill, making it a more dangerous situtation than it already was.

This is not the way I thought our weekend would have ended. It could have turned out a lot worse, so I’m thankful that K&A were there to get our backs, that Nad had the quick reflexes to stop Hotaru from sliding into that truck’s rear, and that I had just enough common sense to listen to Athena, preventing that situation from escalating way out of control.

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. We did not intend on putting up a Christmas tree this year, but we changed our minds at the last minute. Nad put up the fiberoptic tree and I adorned it with gifts. Some of the gifts pictures are for the Secret Santa gift exchange that did not occur - we will be holding that during New Year’s.

My brother Charlie Macc is back in the States for a little bit. We’ll be going to visit him some time in January out in the Midwest. Shortly after he heads back to Iraq, my other brother Gemini will be joining him.

I hope you enjoyed your Valentine’s Day. Nad and I spent part of the day relaxing, and the other part running errands. Nad had an alarm system, complete with remote starter, installed in her car. It took Circuit City almost 12 hours to get it installed. It seems to be running well so far.