Walking Barefoot in the Sand

I woke up extra early this morning-quite by accident-and found my three fuzzies sleeping with me. Jetta was sprawled along the length of my body, Sisu *female cat* was curled up on my feet and Loki *male cat* was pushed up against my knees. I found I was very hot and struggled out of the mass of blankets and bodies, accidentally waking the two cats. Jetta snorted a little, but barely moved: typical Jetta style. I shoved my legs back under the covers and both kittens crawled up to me and lay on my stomach purring. Even though I was awake two hours too early, and my stomach was still bothering me from the lovely stomach flu I am fighting off, I was very content. There is something comforting about waking up with animals surrounding you and all of them being happy you're awake. The cats laid with me until I got up to get breakfast and then followed me back in and watched me eat breakfast-willing me to drop crumbs. This loyalty leads to me today's story. It happened a few days ago, but I had to calm down a bit before I wrote about it. Monday, Jett and I were heading home from class. We took our usual route snaking across campus and walking through a parking lot that empties out onto the sidewalk. It's a very high traffic area, so I am always cautious when walking through. Jetta usually slows her pace and watches the wide paved area for any unwelcome speeders. As I was nearing the middle of the parking lot I heard a large truck shifting gears and using air brakes. I told Jetta to find the shoulder, as I figured walking the outskirts of the parking lot would be much safer than walking down the centre. She slowed her pace even more so much so that we were barely moving. I could feel her looking around trying to find the safest path. Suddenly the truck blew its horn and Jetta stopped dead in her tracks. I kicked my foot under her belly to see if I could feel the curb on the other side of her. My foot struck the concrete barrier that divides the parking lot from the lawn. As I was about to leap into the grass I heard, "Can't you see I'm backing up?!" Instinct took over from there, "No, I'm blind!" I yelled back. I dropped the harness at this point and jumped into the lawn. Then the driver yelled "Get the Hell out of the way!!" Pure rage filled my beins. I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life. First of all, I couldn't get out of the way because I didn't know where he was! Secondly, if I did know how to get out of the way, or to see, I wouldn't have been standing there yelling back and forth! Thank goodness there was an innocent bystander who instructed me to walk straight and then left and I would by pass the truck. I took her advice and thanked her profusely, but I was still fuming. By the time I had reached home I was even more angry than I had been ten minutes previous. I wanted to report him, but I didn't have any of his identifying information. Stuck with nothing else to do I phoned the Accessible Learning office. It wasn't because he nearly ran me over, or that fact that I was blind and he nearly ran me over, it was because he was so bloody arrogant and rude. When you are delivering things to a university campus, you must be aware that there are students that live and go to school there. You should have a little respect. Not all students are stupid and get in the way of 18 wheelers on purpose. He should have assessed the situation before blowing his lid-besides, Jetta is not very hard to miss. And, I was wearing a light pink jacket, I'm not a short girl, how could he have missed me in the first place? Luckily for me, the woman who had given me directions was able to get his truck's information and had already reported him. The real kicker is that he is a university book store delivery truck. Accessible Learning contacted the book store and apparently they're dealing with it. I was akked if I wanted a personal apology, I don't think I do. An apology should not be forced, but rather something you do because you want to. Maybe he should just take anger management classes and maybe some inter-personal relationship lessons. Either way, I'm just glad I'm here to tell the tale. If it weren't for Jeta, I would have walked smack into the back of a reversing 18 wheeler and probably would not be in any shape to bitch about it. Thanks Jetta, I love you.