Just never get in a car with him behind the wheel...

Hear, hear!

Curious - is that in response to the original appreciation, or the sentiment to never let him drive? :)

Oh, Matthew likes to claim that I frightened him once by coasting downhill for a few blocks in Pittsburgh after we visited St Anthony's Chapel (the famous relic chapel) on Troy Hill.

I've had to stop telling the choir stories about my time behind the wheel... nightmares for the young and heart palpitations for the "more senior".

No. Seriously.

Huzzah!

A story about a roadWAY nap would be even more exciting.

Yes, unfortunately, that is just what Nihil meant... I took a nap on the expressway with the cruise control set at 85 MPH... I had worked a 12 hour shift (off at 12:30 AM) and was trying to drive 500 miles to sing for May Crowning Mass at 9:00 AM the following day. I had made it about 350 miles (just about ready to enter the mountains, actually) when said nap occurred. I was awakened rather rudely when I started to go into the median gully between the different directions of the interstate. Overcompensated, rolled the car 3x, wound up in the ditch on the opposite side - upside down. I was wearing my seat-belt because I had just gotten a seat-belt ticket the prior Saturday. (All-in-all, it was a banner seven-day stretch - speeding ticket; speeding ticket + seat-belt ticket; ticket for reckless driving + ticket for expired tabs + speeding ticket + totaled car).

I unclipped my seat-belt, fell and hit my head (nice bump), crawled out through the driver-side window which was smashed, briefly went back to sleep in a seated position on the embankment imagining that I was back in my apartment. I was a bit cold, and forced my eyes open because I was using my suit jacket as a blanket - my logic was that I didn't want it to get all rumpled, and I needed to open my eyes so I could get a blanket. When I saw that I was outside, my first thought was that I had been in a tornado. At that moment, a passer-by who had stopped to render aid asked if I was OK. He told me I was in Montana (I was just about to cross into Idaho) - which is when the whole thing finally registered with me.

The officer - who gave me the last 3 tickets in the litany above (my tabs expired at end of April and it was May 1st) - kindly gave me a ride to the airport, which enabled me to get back to my location in southern Idaho. Called my mom and gave her the sanitized version of the accident... to which she responded that it had been exactly in keeping with her prayers to St. Philomena (to whom she knew I was especially attached). She knew I tended to... exceed the speed limit at times - so she asked Philomena to cause me to be in an accident in which I would be fine, but which would teach me a lesson. I don't know about the lesson (I still... exceed the speed limit at times), but Philomena certainly delivered on her end of the deal. Other than the bump on my head, (and the 9 month old car that was totaled), I had no deleterious outcome from the accident.

Some - who are less charitable, perhaps - may attribute my fortunate outcome (or the accident itself) more to my hard-head than to the operation of Philomena.

There's a reason why St. Philomena is the primary patron of my choirs.

Wow .. a two-fer .. both roadWAY and roadSIDE components in the story !

She knew I tended to... exceed the speed limit at times - so she asked Philomena to cause me to be in an accident in which I would be fine, but which would teach me a lesson.

Holy cow! Your mom is savage!

Incardination yet again secures his title of “Most Interesting Choir Director in the World”.