Apoplectic Apoplexy!

I've discovered that I'm faster than a cheetah in achieving top speed! It takes this beautiful, amazing cat just over 3.4 seconds, but I can go from sedate to ugly, and apoplectically ballistic and belligerent in a nanosecond.

On the very first trip in our new car, we were rear-ended in a store parking lot. A harmless fender bender. Not hard. No big impact. No injuries. But ... some scratches on our pristine new vehicle. It was at a slow, rolling speed. A big SUV had pulled in behind us and parked, but then jolted forward (the brake hadn't engaged properly), rolling into us. I was in the passenger seat, and we were stationery. 

My reaction was to go into full-blown attack mode, instantaneously. A raging anger surged through me and made me shake with excess adrenaline that had nowhere to go - I felt as if I was going to blow a gasket! The blood surging through me was hot and voracious and I felt I HAD to get out and give them a piece of my mind - it was the only way to get the release I needed! "It's our NEW car," I kept shrieking, and "What were you doing?" Before it got too ugly, Dale calmly persuaded me to stay in the vehicle while he dealt with it. I sat in the passenger seat, holding my head in my hands in despair.

The 'perpetrators' were unbelievably apologetic and willing to do anything to fix their error. They asked Dale to apologize to me on their behalf, emphasizing over and over again, how sorry they were. What they and most of my readers don't know, is that the almost exact same thing happened 13 years ago when I drove our brand new minivan into Boston - it was déjà vu for me. (In that instance, the car behind me at a red light had pulled forward as soon as it went green, not noticing that the intersection was clogged and we couldn't move forward. I was driving my teenaged daughter to an activity at MIT, and I went ballistic on this stranger in the middle of Boston traffic, embarrassing my daughter no end. I think she learned how NOT to behave when you're in a fender bender, so I guess it was a positive learning experience😀).

Despite all my dramatics, there was only a slight indent in our bumper, and no real paint scratched away, either. A pot of matching paint wouldn't even need to be used! 

LIVID, described by Oxford Languages as "furiously angry" almost describes my sensations.

LIVID:

Bezerk

Enraged

Apoplectic

Ballistic

These words try to describe

the hot flow of blood

that charges instantaneously

and makes me shake.

Head in hands

In an enclosed space

I breathe calmness back in