Adventures with Anxiety

I'm starting to think that I am going to make friends while in traffic on 93 in the morning.  Seriously, I bet if I really paid attention that I am most likely among familiar faces everyday around Columbia Road.  By the way..what exactly happens at Columbia Road that we all have to slow down and crawl for an hour before it spontaneously breaks up?

I did make friends one time in the tunnel.... So, it was a very hot day in mid-August a over a year ago.  I have never been afraid of tunnels or anything like that.  I find them smelly to be stuck in, but as long as my radio comes in I am fine.  However...I do have a penchant for being stricken with anxiety at odd times.

So, on this day I come to a complete stop in the middle of the tunnel headed South on 93.  I'm just hanging out, and my thought process went something like this:
'Uh, this sucks.  I'm really glad I don't get anxious in tunnels--that would be terrible.  I would feel so trapped.  I wouldn't be able to move or get out at all.  Yeah.  It's really good this doesn't bother me.  I wonder if I can even call anyone to calm me down in here...'
I pick up my phone and of COURSE I have no service..I'm IN THE TUNNEL!!

'Oh my God...it's really hot in here, oh GOD'  (I turn on the AC full blast).  Now my heart is beating out of my chest and I am in a sweat...and I can't go anywhere!
So, I do the most logical thing.  I start waving at the woman in the car next to me. I don't know what I wanted her to do..I wanted her to try and talk me down.
She thought I wanted to get in front of her.  So, she makes room for me.

NO!!  I start motioning for her to roll down her window like a crazy person.  While I'm mouthing 'roll down your window'..Am I the only person who doesn't actually talk out-loud in my car and mouth things to other drivers?  Like, if they can't hear me then I shouldn't be able to hear myself...like..to be fair?
Anyways, now this woman is has a look in her eyes that only says 1 thing.  Fear.  She is AFRAID of me.  She thinks I am some wacko..  I don't know why...could it be because I was literally the hot mess in the next lane over flailing my arms???
I was pretty sure I was dying--my heart was just going to give out.   How would they get to me in the tunnel?  And did it matter??  Clearly I was running out of time.
That's when my Mexican friends in the '92 Honda Civic rolled up.  They had no AC, windows down.  I was desperate.  I rolled down my window...
'Hey'
'Hey Mami'
'lots of traffic huh?' (picture this with me breathing like I just ran the marathon)
'yea, mami' ( they dance along to their music alternating smiling at me and each other...they think they have hit some weird tunnel jack-pot---the girls never want to talk back-they are thinking!  This girl is rolling down her window in the tunnel to talk to us!! Little do they know, this mami is having some sort of chemical imbalance and is pretty sure they are going to save her life)
'um (panting really) when do you think it will break up?'
This is where our conversation stops.  They don't know enough English...DAMN IT!!  What kind of hell is this???
Just then, as I'm about to abandon my car and run down 93 and out of the tunnel certain to make the 6 o'clock news, the traffic breaks.
I dodge, weave, and break off into the freedom of day light.
And, you wondered why I don't drink caffeine.