The fabric of our lives...

Almost ten years ago, we moved to North Carolina. The Husband had been transferred. Since I had just given birth to The Boy, I was unable to drive just yet. The Husband went ahead; my mom, The Boy and I drove out about two weeks later. It was an uneventful drive, for the most part. We took our time and made the trip in two days.

Sometime during the second day of the trip (in North Carolina), we ran into some traffic. OK maybe I shouldn't say traffic...it was a truck, a car, and us. The truck was an open-top semi...the kind that hauls coal, rocks, etc. Behind the semi was a car; we were behind the car. The car was driving very slowly. At first, we thought the car was slowing because of the large snowflakes that were falling. We realized, after looking around, that there was no snow...things were flying out of the truck. Ordinarily, this would be completely understandable...I don't know anyone who would want to closely follow a truck from which debris was flying.

Suddenly, a bit of the debris hit our car. At that point, we realized the truck was hauling cotton! Yes, COTTON...the soft fluffy stuff from which clothing is made...the fabric of our freaking LIVES! The man in front of us was driving 40 mph in a 55 mph zone because the truck in front of him was spilling out cotton! Imagine how slowly he'd have driven if the truck had been hauling wool!!