Crashing My Car

Today is my son's 26th birthday! Happy Birthday, Nick! It's starting to freak me out that my children are getting older. My other son will be 30 in May. However, I find it amusing that neither of them find the jokes they made about my baldness quite as funny anymore since their hair is getting a bit thin on top!

After I had my car crash on Friday night I had flashbacks about it all weekend. I kept thinking about the one second or less of time that existed between when I realized what was going to happen and when it actually occurred. The worst case scenario was that someone, possibly me, could have been killed. When I regained my composure, and after I realized everyone involved was OK, I found myself overwhelmed with thoughts of what could have happened. Earlier in the evening on Friday my wife and I met my son and Chloe for a casual, Friday night dinner. Chloe begged to go home with me but I told her she couldn't because "Pa Paw had to get up real early to go see Uncle Nick". My wife wanted to take Nick the kind of care package college kids away from home love to receive. I dropped her off at Kroger and then proceeded to a Thornton's to gas up the car so I wouldn't have to deal with it the next morning. I thought about stopping at the Speedway but it was packed and every gas pump was taken so I headed for the nearby Thornton's. I needed to turn left against three lanes of traffic. I was in a turning lane. Two of the lanes stopped to let me cross. The third lane appeared empty. I started to cross and the next thing I knew there was a terrible crunching sound and my car was knocked about ten feet. If you've ever been in an automobile accident, you know how surreal the experience can be. When I had been in a much more serious accident in 1995 I thought I was in a dream even after I regained consciousness. So, once again life has reminded me of precious it is and how fragile it can be. I thought I knew that but I suppose we can all be a little complacent about it and take it for granted. The irony is that I just recently read a story about an old man and his grandson. The boy asked "Grandpa, how do you get to be as old as you"? The Grandpa said, "Never turn left". After Friday night my wife and sons have limited me to left turns only at traffic lights that have a left turn arrow.