The Moment Life Changes

This was originally written on July 17, 2017.  It took me 6 years to publish. In this interval, Dad, Mom and my only brother have gone on to glory. Grief is such an odd thing. Just like a scent or an old song, it all comes rushing back at the oddest and most unexpected moments.

Sport bikes are made to go fast. Unfortunately, sport bikes go fast wherever a rider points them.  It is difficult to imagine that at about 85 mph the rider of a small and unprotected sports bike at dusk can see clearly everything they need to see on a 6-lane highway littered with entrances and exits with very heavy traffic.

We don’t know the story of the young man who was riding the sports bike at excessive speed in the hours and minutes prior to when he collided with this car.  What I know is that my parents were sitting behind the slim sheet of metal with which he collided. He hit them directly between my father, riding on the passenger side of the front seat, and my mother, riding on the passenger side of the seat behind.  The side air curtains on the van did little to prevent breaking the ribs of both of my parents, lacerating internal organs, puncturing their lungs, and mangling my mother’s right leg and hip. They were quite literally only a few feet from being safe at home. They were coming home from a church function. 

What we have learned so far is that the bike rider was not the owner of the bike he was riding, that he was moving at excessive speed, that his wife was following him in a car trying to catch up to him and had possibly already collided with him once.

My parents have now been in the ICU and on ventilators for eleven days. Their lives and ours (the rest of the family – 4 children and their spouses, 7 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren) are forever changed.  The severity of their injuries means that our parents will likely have to give up their home of 23 years. Our youngest sister has sold her home and will move to another state so that when and if my parents leave the hospital and the rehab facility that will follow, they will have assistance with tasks that they have accomplished independently for their entire lives.

We will watch for you on the road. Please ride responsibly.