subject: Life Changing Events [print this page] Life Changing Events Life Changing Events
It was the last of March and an unusually hot day in Indiana. With the temperature nearing 80 and storm clouds in the air, it was a perfect day for severe weather or even a tornado.
A trip to Australia was planned in June and desperately needing some time off top access where my life had been and where I was headed next, this time in March would be a good time to reevaluate my life.
The way I had it figured, this would be a good day to get my motorcycle out of the garage and give it a spring cleaning. Of course one thing leads to another, since the bike was in top notch condition, what harm would a little ride on such a warm day do?
My plan was to ride for a little while and then come home and pack for a trip to Philadelphia and Valley Forge. Places I had never been to in this life time, but had vivid memories of a time past. This would be a good time to reconnect with that period of time.
As they say, "Man plans, Gods smiles", the little ride turned into an all day event.Ignoring the impending storms, I decided to ride the curvy hilly roads of southeastern Indiana that overlook the Ohio River, some of the best places to ride a motorcycle anywhere. The beautiful scenery coupled with the nearly isolated roads makes for an enjoyable ride.
The ride was everything one could hope for, and mentally making plans for my trip to Valley Forge the day quickly passed. The next thing I knew Aurora Indiana came into sight, a small city close to Cincinnati, Ohio. Since I was here, might as well stop and see an old girl friend.
While visiting in her shop, the inevitable storm hit with a vengeance. The rain was coming down in bucket fulls, a real toad strangler. My clean bike was sitting out in the middle of it, so much for the wax job!
Suddenly as the rain came to a stop, I decided it was time to go home and pack. Quickly mounting my steed, I fired up the engine and headed out of town. Rounding a corner, between a funeral home and a church, this small pick-up suddenly came from a hidden alley. I could see the drivers head turn away from me, he hadn't seen me. Looking down at the pavement, I could see sand had been washed onto the wet road, not something one wants to see while on a motorcycle. Realizing two choices were at hand, hit the pavement or hit the truck, neither decision was acceptable. I had reached that millisecond of time when one realizes they are in a pile of do-do and there isn't anything that can be done about it, except utter a few words of desperation and bite the bullet.
Only traveling about 10 miles per hour, the damage should be minimal. My thought was to lay the bike down and bail off the back of it, shouldn't be too bad.
Wrong again, as I lay the bike down and tried to jump backwards off the bike, the bike fell on my right leg, forcing me to hit the ground with a vengeance. Laying face down on the pavement, excruciating pain was traveling up my right arm. Quickly flopping over on my back, I ripped off my helmet and began to go into shock. It had begun to rain again and my biggest worry was getting ran over by a inattentive motorist.
My fears were soon put to rest as the driver of the small pick-up had seen what happened and stopped to assist. Soon the EMT's arrived, the lady I had stopped to see was a member of the life squad, when she heard the call come in, she knew it was me and came to help.
Cutting off my favorite jacket and trouser leg, they assessed the damages, nothing but minor scrapes on my leg, the most serious was a dislocated right shoulder, Gawd, it hurt! The trip to the hospital was brutal, emergency vehicles ride REALLY rough. Soon my arm was back in it's normal position, however 3 months of rehab awaited me.
My first question to the universe was,"why did this happen?" Why did I suddenly decide to leave the flower shop?" If I had left a half second earlier or later, I wouldn't have been at that exact spot when the truck came out of the alley.
Soon an answer came, I had asked for time to meditate and assess where my life was going and also, the dislocated right shoulder was a little karma, it seems I had been in the Sicilian mafia at an earlier time and made a practice of breaking peoples arms that were behind on their loans.
Well one always gets what they ask for, and not being specific, a three month disability was given to me. Gotta be more precise next time.
Gary has been a photographer for over 20 years, specializing in nature,landscapes and event photography.Besides visiting most of the United States, he has traveled to such places as Egypt,the Canary Islands,much of the Caribbean, and having studied Mayan Cultures in Central America, and the Australian Aboriginal way of life, photography has given him the opportunity to observe life in many different cultures!
To view more of his articles visithttp://www.travelnsnap.com.
To see some of the products available featuring some of his best photoshttp://www.tshirtsbumperstickers.com
