Day 46: Wonder Woman Wanna Be

Living with a person who has visual impairment has its rewards...I like to say I am the luckiest woman in the world because Deano can't see my hair and the bags under my eyes when I wake up in the morning. It also has its hazards. Let me paint you a picture about exactly what I mean.

It was a windy summers afternoon, the warm breeze blowing through the car windows as we drove along the meandering  roads of the northern New South Wales country side. Running out of juice we stopped by a local country petrol station to fill up our little white Honda Civic. Because I have to do all the driving Deano has the responsibility of filling up the the tank. How can a blind guy do that? I hear you ask...under my instruction I tell him which pump handle to pick...I am so bad at instructions I usually will say something like "the first one closest to the front door of the car" or "the one in the middle of the three" it's a miracle Deano gets the right pump every time, I suppose he is use to my quirkily creative enlightenment and managed never putting diesel into an unleaded tank.   

 On this very occasion Deano was pumping the fuel while I wandered into the station  store to pick up a couple of ice creams for the road. Once I paid for the fuel and treats I settled back into the drivers seat to continue driving towards the hinterland of the Byron Bay region. Great date right...it was until this happened. Winding down the rainforest road taking a turn around a hair pin corner I  hear a clunk, clunk, clunk across the back of the car...and then a ting ting ting across the road. Alert to the pinging sounds I turn to Deano and ask "What the heck was that?" At which my Blindman responded "I think that was the petrol cap I left on the back of the car!" 

Pulling the car over in the long grass on the side of the road I peered towards the direction that the cap rolled across the traffic lane. Deano of course could pin point the direction in which the car part had rolled as his hearing is so acute he could tell where the cap was lying in the grass on the opposite side of the road. However the road is well used and is one of the popular courses entering in and out of the township of Bangalow often with semi trailers using it to pass through to Byron Bay. Not a good time to be asking him to do the chivalrous act and cross the road to retrieve the lost petrol cap.

In between cars and trucks passing I time my crossing with enough time to reach the opposite side of the road in safety...so I thought...on my way over the road my slippery sole shoe slid  on the road reflector in the centre of the asphalt. Propelling my body forward like a stunt woman from a James Bond movie  I did a swan dive into the oncoming lane...stumbling to retrieve my falling status I look up to see a semi trailer hurtling around the bend like a freight train of the road. Staying down low I use the best gymnastics tumble that I could muster (thought those tumbling  classes mum sent me to as a kid would pay off one day) and roll my body off to the side of the road narrowly missing the giant wheels that whirred by my head, now lying face down in the dirt. Some people only see such stunts in the movies and others like Deano don't get to see them at all even when they happen right in front of them. I had the bloodied knees and elbows to prove that it happened and I limped around for quite some time afterwards. Did I ever get that petrol cap? No I didn't! After my death defying stunt in shock I couldn't find the stupid cap that nearly took my life. The grass was so long and knowing that there were many poisonous snakes that live in this region I wasn't really in the state of mind to go searching and test my fate for a second time this day. 

Deano always said he liked Wonder Woman from the 70's DC Comics when he had a little more sight than he had as now..from this point on and to this day I became his Wonder Woman. If only I looked that great in her Wonder Woman suit...but like I said at the beginning of this post it really doesn't mater what I look like because my Blindman loves me anyway! And I will wear the suit with pride...not in public though...lol

Linda Carter as Wonder Woman...if the suit fit I would wear it!