Black Ice.

If you live in Minnesota, the term Black Ice needs no defining...but will perhaps leave you cringing. The invisible layer of frozen water through which the black asphalt can be seen, but may seem invisible or just look like a patch of wet road. Believe it or not is is so cold here right now that the exhaust from the cars is freezing on the roads before it can evaporate. Makes for very dangerous driving due to people from out of town (places south of this winter wonderland) and for those (*@$&!) Minnesotans that have memory loss of last winters driving techniques (perhaps due to brain frostbite). That is why it will take me an extra 45 minutes to get to my appointment this morning (thank God it's with my therapist!) and why I took an unfortunate tumble...and wish my appointment was with a chiropractor. We were down to one car last week and I had an appointment and some errands to run. The Big Guy so graciously (he loves my payback) offered to drop me off...although he forgot to mention that his appointment for that morning was 45 minutes in the other direction. What's a Minnesota girl living in the suburbs (read: no convenient busing and miles of separation between EVERYTHING) to do? I packed my fuzzy hat and mittens and donned my fleece lined Merrells and started hoofin' it. About 2 miles into my trip, I attempted to cross a street...hit a patch of black ice and went "ass over tea kettle" right behind a little white car. I jumped up about as fast as I went down and kept on walking...checking my peripheral vision for any one brave enough to laugh out loud.  As soon as I got a safe distance away I began to check for damage. My bag, coat and jeans were a little muddy and I felt the beginnings of the bruises, but felt lucky that no teeth were cracked from the snapping of my jaw. The Big Guy called to say his appointment was really later in the day and he would pick me up in a couple of minutes. He got to me a block before my destination...just as the headache and muscle soreness were setting in. That is when I redefined the term Black Ice...the shroud of ice that covers one who is in no condition to be friendly to others...especially those laughing at personal current events.