Four years ago today I had an awful lot
of fun, at least if you define “fun” as losing a tooth, getting
six stitches on my face, and scraping up half of my body.
That's “fun”, right?
Yup; it's hard to believe it's been
that long, but four years ago today I had my little (well, “big”,
actually) bike accident, when I wasn't looking where I was going, ran
the front tire of my bike into the rear tire of Loraine's bike, and
watched physics take over. Five seconds later, I was bruised,
battered, bloodied, and bewildered, not unlike many people who do
stupid things to themselves.
So “yay” for me!
I did, thankfully, heal quite quickly.
My tooth was replaced (thanks to Dr. Belpedio, who still rightly
admires his handiwork every time I go in for a check-up), the scar
left by the stitches is only visible if you know where under my right
eye to look, and my fingers, torn to shreds by the pavement and cut
up by my wedding ring, are as good as new. In fact, the only
(literal) scars that are left are on my left knee, and those were
scars I thought I'd carry with me forever. However, they too are
fading, so one day the only physical reminder I may have of the
accident is my new wedding ring, which replaced the one that tore up
my fingers and had to be cut off once said fingers started to swell.
I don't recommend anyone do what I did.
I don't recommend that anyone get into a bike accident, and I don't
recommend that anyone have to go through what I went though. But in
a strange way, having gone through that experience made me realize
that I'm surrounded by some pretty amazing people, everyone from
Loraine (who helped me right after the accident) to the people at
Superior Walk-In Center who patched me up, to my parents who drove us
(and our bikes) home to, as I mentioned, Dr. Belpedio, who gave me my
new tooth. They all have my thanks, for now and forever.
Until you go through an experience like
that, you just don't know how many talented and caring people are
around you, both personally and professionally. I mean, I hope that
you never have to go through what I went through (and since most of
you are much more careful than am I, you probably never will), but if
you do, I hope you're able to be surrounded with the same quality of
caring individuals as was I. It's not a very fun experience, but it
WAS made much more tolerable when you know you're in good hands.
Most years, on the anniversary of my
accident, I go out for a bike ride (just to thumb my nose at fate).
But because of the cold & the rain in the forecast, and the fact
that I still haven't (as I mentioned a few weeks ago) gotten my bike
out for the year, I won't do it today, but that's okay. My bike and
I are still on great terms. About the only time I even think of the
accident is when I'm riding past the place on Marquette's west-side
bike path where the accident occurred. There, and only there, I slow
down just a little, and make sure that I'm not about to run into
anyone else's bike.
After all, I don't want to do it again.
On that note, have yourself a great
weekend, and remember—no bike accidents for anyone!
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