By Mary Anderson

To soothe the little parts of myself that were so shaken up by hitting a deer, I stopped and tried to buy myself a hot chocolate. I say “tried” because when I went to the checkout with my cup overflowing with cocoa piled high with whipped cream, I was told by the cashier, “Don’t worry about it. It’s on the house.” It was just what I needed in that moment.

I’m hoping this event helps me shed more of the worry I carry about what will happen to me in the future. Yes, I hit a deer. Yes, it was traumatic. Yes, my car needs work. Yes, I had to deal with a cop who came to check the car, even though I wanted nothing to do with a man in a cop uniform. As a child I was raped by one of them and they have terrified me ever since. I only got through today’s incident by having a friend talk with me on the phone while the cop was looking at my car. Sadly, I knew that being a white old lady made it less likely that I would have trouble with any cop. This cop was not warm and fuzzy, but he was nice enough.

I am working to recognize, despite the inner turmoil, that I did get past that incident and am now driving on, determined to complete this hike. I will continue to transform traumatic events by focusing on the kind people who help me overcome them.