“SKIIID…BREAKS…SKIDD…TERRIBLE SCREAM, TERRIBLE SCREAM…MY WIFE IS SCREAMING…SKIDD…BREAKS…DEAD PHONE.”
This would have truly scared the hell out of me had I been in your shoes, and I know my reaction would have been much the same. I’m very relieved and happy that your wife was unharmed.
Ranks right up there with one of the worse things I have ever heard.
“Brace yourselves, gentlemen. The secret ingredient is…LOVE? Who’s been screwing with this thing?”
-Professor Frink
I was scared for her just reading the OP! Damn, Phlosphr, after I calm down a bit I may lecture you on safe driving, but , I can say that I would have done the same thing.
Thank Og she is safe and sound. Get a new phone first thing in the morning, but for today, draw Mrs. Phlosphr a good warm bubble bath and snuggle for the rest of the night.
This may be a little weird, but here’s something I thought about–but first let me say I’m glad everything turned out OK.
Maybe on balance it’s a good thing that you heard the screams and stuff on the phone (instead of the alternative of not hearing the stuff on the phone and just hearing about what happened to your wife later) because it made you experience the same thing your wife did: horrible thoughts of impending doom followed by the sweet knowledge that everything was OK.
If you’d just gone to class like normal and your wife called you up, you may not have really been able to comfort her like she woud want you to because you would be in professor mode or whatever. You’d be on different emotional planes, I guess is what I’m saying.
Well, you’re the psychology guy, so I guess you’ll know if I’m full of shit on this. Just looking for the silver lining.
I see your thought process taxguy - however, I do believe I would have left immediately had I found out in a different way. She’s fine now, but tonight we may need a glass of wine before bed to calm her down…
Lyllyan - thats already on the docket for this evening. We have a hot tub that will be getting some use this evening!
While it’s nice that some posters are looking out for those other drivers (the ones who Phlosphr scared and/or ticked off when he was doing his best “bat out of hell” impression), I say with all heartfelt emotion: screw them.
In an echo of something that TaxGuy said in a recent SUV thread: if it were my wife in Phlosphr’s wife’s shoes (they’d have to be ugly red boots, otherwise my wife wouldn’t wear them), I’m selfish enough that I wouldn’t give a damn about the other drivers.
MY wife is the only important thought to me at that point. MY love, MY world, MY best friend (well, the one with breasts at any rate) is what will drive (ahem!) me to get to her as quickly as possible. And if by “quickly” I mean, “Honk-the-friggity-HONK, people! Get outta my way!” you bet I’ll try to even go faster than that.
Moments like those don’t necessarily produce rational thoughts; they produce panic and hurt and horrible thoughts of what it’s like to go through life without the one person who means the most to you (religious figures and penises aside).
None of this is to say that either Phlosphr or myself would intentionally harm others to get to our wives, but the safety of strangers will not equate to the life of my wife.
So, yes, Phlosphr should have committed those traffic violations; hell, he should have stepped it up a notch and run over a car dealer’s vehicle if he had the chance. (But only because I think car dealers–with a big ol’ “D” on the license tag here in Missouri–are horrible drivers no matter the situation and shouldn’t be on the road, anyway. ;))
I think you did the right thing, Phlosphr, and I would encourage you to do the same thing again.
And that, Baby, is why you are the absolute favorite of The Princess. 
. . . ahem. Princess in Boots, that is. 
I’d prefer “Princess in Skimpy See-Through,” but I’m a reasonable guy.
I am a rational man, I think of myself as an honest human being. But this statement by you Skipmagic is horrifyingly true. I was not thinking about others safety, I was thinking about the one human being who completes this human being typing this sentence.
Thank you for your post Skip.
Phlosphr, I’m sorry you and your wife had to go through something so heartwrenching. I know well how much you mean to each other. Now get off this blasted board and go rub her feet.
[hijack]
I love Maureen. She’s like the official SDMB Can of Whupass on behalf of wives everywhere.
[/hijack]
I agree, maureen rocks…then not to toot anyone elses horn too loudly…You Auntie Em are quite respectable on that token as well…
Tanookie deserves and honorable mention for Phlosphr’s list of kindred spirits…
This morning was much better than yesterday BTW…No horrifying events…
Gosh…I’m blushing!! Y’all are very special to me, too. But, em, we gotta go shopping and get you some proper boots. Something suede and lace up with stillettos.
It is certainly understandable that you were thinking only of your wife under the circumstances. But that doesn’t mean that you were thinking in her best interest. She was at least twenty minutes away from you. The police would have dispatched an ambulance that would have gotten there within moments. As much as she might have desired your presence more than anything else, she might have needed CPR to go on living more.
If you did not think to call the police and you could not get your wife out of your mind and you were going 110 miles an hour, you were not in control.
I’m glad that the both of you and all others in-between are okay.
I probably would just have frozen up. That would have been irrational too.
Generally, I see myself as a strong woman – complete in myself and not needing anyone else to make me whole. But if my husband were suddenly taken from me, I don’t know how I would be able to draw my next breath. That is one of the great contradictions of my life.
Phlosphr, I am so glad you are both okay. When you have regained some equilibrium, be glad that the lesson learned had so slight a final cost to it.
I have seen this police about-face before, and I have to say, it is heartening. Reminds you that the guy in the uniform is probably a husband, too.
Finally, someone who agrees with me. I was starting to doubt myself.
I assume I’m the “saint” of whom you speak. While it appears that emotional is valued over reason by many of the posters in this thread, I’d rather be me than you in an emergency. My wife appreciates that I can keep a level head while she is losing hers. It doesn’t mean I love her any less than you guys love your wives.
Wow I didn’t expect to see my name pop up in here!
I’m glad everyone is ok and just shaken up. I can’t imagine how I would feel in your shoes.
I do remember one time before hubby and I were married. I was hanging out at his house waiting for him to get back from a final exam. It was my birthday and we were supposed to go out for dinner later. It was snowing and the phone rang. Apparently a girl lost control of her car and spun out right in front of him and he hit her passenger door. I knew he was ok because he was the one calling but it still scared me. He was more upset that it was my car he was driving… Cars can be replaced people can’t.
I’m of the opinion that you should keep on doubting yourself. While I definitely sympathize over the scare you had with wife, she most definitely did not scream before the line died, nor did you hear any skidding of her bed–which, I might add, was probably going about zero miles per hour.
In a case like that, sure, I submit that it’s much easier to retain a level head. Tricky, maybe–depending on the person–but much easier. So, yes, unless you’ve experienced a situation like that of Phlosphr’s, what you’ve suggested that you might be able to do (after all, until it happens, how do you know?) is mere speculation and uninformed opinion.
Phlosphr made no mention of how he would react in any emergency that was not the possible death of his wife (and, frankly, neither did of the rest of us), so your assertion that emotion is valued over reason is both pretentious and incorrect. And maybe I missed it in someone’s post, but I don’t recall anyone claiming you loved your wife less; in fact, I don’t think there was any such comparison.
In addition, it’s mighty easy for me to pop into a thread devoted to a man declaring love for his wife (especially after a horrible scare) and nitpick what could have been done had the world been perfect, but I sure wouldn’t. I think, overall, you’ve missed the point of this thread.