The "Oh Shit!" Handle
My friend Tash and I would go driving around in high school, often bottoming-out her truck on the gravel roads near Falkirk. Ya know those handles on the ceilings of vehicles, which some use to hoist themselves up into SUVs, etc? Well, we affectionately referred to them as the "Oh Shit!" handles.
I feel like I need an "Oh Shit!" handle in everyday life, and especially so when commuting in monsoon conditions among Texans, who can't drive in anything but sunny, dry weather. I feel like I need to instruct the world how to drive. Everywhere I go, the World's Worst Drivers follow me there.
An "Oh Shit!" handle is like an exterior element of our "fight or flight" system. We need "Oh Shit!" handles.
Kind of like an "Oh Shit!" handle is my Guardian Angel clip on the visor above my steering wheel. She gives me a strong sense of security while I'm teaching other people how to drive (Thanks Mom).
Another "Oh Shit!" handle would be this venti Starbucks sitting four inches from my left hand. Say what you will about corporate coffee, the other stuff just ain't as good. I need this. And who among you dares to deny me?
My mom calls them the "Jesus bars", for the same principal. Also, she has an angel on her visor that says "Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly." It's cute.
Mine says, "Please guard me, my passengers, and all I pass by with a mindful hand and a watchful eye."
Each time either my mom or I fly on a plane, we share this note I wrote when I was a little kid. She was flying to Ohio alone and I found this stamp of a pointing finger, and I stamped it upward and wrote "look to Jesus" in my little kid writing. When I went to Fargo, it was tucked into the book Jeff sent me that I brought to read.
Aw, Nicole, that's a great story!