Red Eye

I have an engineering background, and one of my college jobs was with the Illinois Dept. of Transportation. We were 'management', doing quality control on the building of highways, traffic lights, etc. in central Illinois. I was recently back visiting my folks, and I noticed that they were resurfacing the exact place where I worked those 3 summer months, almost 30 years ago! I showed my kids a particular spot where something miraculous had happened to me. I also found a 'red eye' in my childhood box of memories, which I saved after a particularly harrowing experience.

We were laying out where the lines on the road were to be painted, using a nail with red ribbon attached - called a 'red eye.' I was out in the road, with a tape measure, tapping the red eye into the soft new asphalt with a hammer. The cars were stopped in front of me. I don't know why I always volunteered to be out in the road - I just liked it, for whatever reason. At this particular time, I felt the urge to look up - at my co-workers, who lined the side of the road and were holding the other end of the tape measure. Tellingly, they showed panic in their eyes. I didn't hesitate, but leaped towards the curb. I was hit in the calf and pushed off the oncoming car with my hand to get out of the way.

Apparently, the car who was stopped in front of me was rear-ended by another car who did not see the construction/slow down signs. They were hurt and I don't know about the people that hit them. What I do know is that I had a guardian angel that day, who told me to look up, who told me to trust my instincts, because if I hadn't, I would be dead, under a car, because I was kneeling in the road with my head in front of a stopped cars' headlights.

That was the second time I had been hit by a car in my life.

I came home that night - I was living alone in my parent's home while they were gone - and I remember crying and crying in my boyfriend's arms.

I have the red eye again in my possession . . . and I still love the idea that I put myself out there, and I can count on my 'angels' to save me should the occasion arise . . .