I Don't Speak Good Samaritan

On my way to Miss M's school yesterday, a guy in the lane next to me tried desperately to get my attention.  I, of course, was at that moment using one hand to both drive and hold a plastic cup, and the other hand to dig into the cup and wipe my index finger along the edge, so I could scoop up and lick every last bit of breakfast smoothie.

He made some kind of motion with his hand.  A flapping/squeezing motion, like he was doing a puppet.  My first assumption was of course that he was making fun of me.  But as I scrunched up my face and shook my head questioningly, he pointed over his shoulder to what I imagined was the back of my car.

Then traffic took him away from me.

Okay, I kind of let it take him away from me.  I was embarrassed that I had no clue what he was trying to tell me, plus I had a bad feeling I'd crash or get pulled over if I tried to have a full mime conversation with the guy instead of keeping my eye on the road.

Then another guy passed me, gesturing to the back of my car as he whizzed by.

And every other car behind me seemed to swerve to get out of my way, like we were magnetically repelling.

I felt like I was at a dinner party with something in my teeth.  Clearly, something was wrong with the back end of my car, but what?  Was the trunk open?  Was something hanging out?  Was a door ajar?  The dashboard said no, but was it wrong?  Was there smoke coming out the back of my car?  Was there damage I hadn't seen when I'd gotten into the car that morning?

Clearly something was up, but when Miss M and I got out of the car and walked around the back, we saw nothing: no smoke, nothing hanging open, no huge dent, nothing pouring out of the gas tank.  Nothing.  So I drove back home… and later, back to Miss M's school… and again back home…

…until about two miles from the house, yet another Good Samaritan got my attention at a red light and motioned for me to roll down my window, at which point she shouted, "Your tire is completely flat!"

My husband's reaction to this story when I told him was, "How could you not tell you were driving on a flat tire?!"

I did notice the car felt a little wonky, but nothing major.  Plus I knew it was due for a service, so I figured it was something small they'd catch when I took it in.  It never crossed my mind it could be a flat tire.  This was stunning to my husband, but I've honestly never had a flat tire, so how would I know what driving with one feels like?

It's like when you're pregnant for the first time and you ask how you'll know when you're having contractions.  Everyone just gives you that nod and smile and says, "Oh, you'll know…"  I had no idea!  I had to sit on the phone with my sister-in-law for an hour describing and timing the feelings before we determined that's what it was.

Yet while I could understand my having no concept of what a flat tire felt like, I did feel pretty foolish for not realizing it's what every other driver on the road had been trying to tell me all day.

Non-verbal communication is clearly not my forte.

So here's my question for you: have you ever been in a situation where people were clearly trying to tell you something, and you missed it entirely?  A dinner party where you came out of the bathroom with an edge of skirt tucked into your underwear waistband, perhaps?    A big meeting where something unsightly was hanging horribly off your face?  A conversation where everyone tried to stop you from spilling news that someone wasn't supposed to know?  Join me in obliviousness and share!