Crash, Bang, Boom - Life Lessons Learned in a Parking Lot

I want to start this off by saying thank you to all the incredible friends who have brought me hope and encouragement over the last week. Your thoughts, prayers, and visits have meant more than you will ever know.

Thanks to Jackson Miller and Kate O’Neil for the awesome inspiration in the form of a balloon!

Thanks to Anne and Bo who were so helpful with Mel and the kids, we could not have made it without you guys.

Thanks to Tom, Lizzie, Jim, Erin and the rest of the BarCamp Crew who helped keep my spirits high in the midst of the pain. If I missed someone, please forgive me, it must be the drugs!

The Beginning

One thing that I have learned over the years is that important lessons in life are often learned via great pain and suffering. The lessons of the last week have been no exception.

So the story starts several weeks ago when I wrecked my precious little commuter car (Honda Prelude) just days before our dear Madilynn was due to come home from the NICU at Summit. The car though crashed, still ran and drove (though without headlights and radiator).

We made it back to our apartment here in Hermitage where I then I made the decision to throw it up on Craigslist. Several weeks later I received a trade offer that would be the worst decision I have made in some time.

The offer was to swap my Honda Prelude for a 1996 Honda CBR 600 F3 sport bike. “Sounds fun!”, I thought. I have owned several other bikes and have ridden off and on many times over the last 10 years. So, I went for it.

Saturday, Oct 25th 2008, I became the proud owner of a running, driving, 600cc motorcycle.

The following day, not 24 hours after taking delivery, I was on the way to the hospital in a neck brace on a backboard.

Here is What Happened

Sunday afternoon, I went out to the garage and tinkered with trying to fix a few small issues the bike had cosmetically and mechanically. Screw in a faring here, adjust a light there, install a turn signal, tweak the clutch draw etc. The day prior I had ridden the bike around the small parking area in front of the apartment, just to see how it felt prior to the swap. All was well.

I decided I wanted to see how my adjustments went and planned for a short little trek around the parking area, got on the bike, drove a couple hundred feet to the bottom of the hill, and turned to head back up the hill.

I was not doing more than 5 miles an hour as I was very aware of the dangers of riding both unlicensed and without a helmet. Yes, I know stupid me, but I would imagine every rider has done it at some point. A quick drive down the street, around the block, in the backyard, etc.

The apartment complex is full of speed bumps, so that further increased the need to make sure I was being super cautious.

The next thing I know as I made a left hand turn, the bike lept out from under me and took off at a breakneck speed. I have no idea how fast I got up to in the one second/15-20 feet prior to the front wheel of the bike colliding with the rear wheel of a parked car. How ever fast it was, it was enough to throw me from the bike, head first over the back of the car onto the pavement. (I found out later that the throttle cable had been caught in a faring and when I turned, pulled the cable tight, thus causing the instant speed increase.)

Looking back now on my parking lot ballet all I can think about is how it just “happened so fast”. One moment I was turning, the next I was laying on the ground covered in blood. Moments later the police arrive, the fire truck, the ambulance and away I went to the hospital.

It is now almost a week later and I am feeling the pain of my bad decisions. I sit all day long writhing in the uncomfortable feeling of 7 broken ribs, 2 broken orbital bones, jammed fingers and wrists, multiple scratches, scrapes and bruises.

I am taking enough drugs to start a pharmacy now and I am pretty much useless around the house and with the kids.
I have learned in a very short period of time how precious life is, how important my family is to me and that I am no longer in a position in life where I can be careless in the decisions that I make.

I was lucky, so very lucky.