Life Is A Funny Old Thing...

Life has a way of not flowing according to plan. Yesterday was a fine example of that.
I took the bike over to the high school near me. Its only a couple of blocks away and the parking lot is empty on weekends. Well, I was off like a rabbit, zipping around the parking lot. It surrounds the school and has many areas for turning. It is cut regularly with speed bumps and has several very large pot holes. So, it allowed for some fun maneuvering. Sections are long enough that I could take the bike up to 60 kph with no concern. The bike braked well and handled great. I was amazed at how easily I could ride it. I was able to shift through the gears, brake and downshift at the same time and take corners at various speeds. I was having a ball.
Then I saw my son ride up on his bicycle. He had been out with my wife shopping and I just assumed he had come back and ridden over to see what I was up to. But then I saw his face. He had an unusual look of concern. My son is sixteen. He is great kid and will be a fine man in a few years, but he isn’t prone to displaying too many emotions.

“You’re in trouble,” he said to me as I pull to a stop beside him. Right then, I assumed he’s trying to pull my leg. The straight face… The curt warning… I figured his mother had sent him with some plan to get my goat. So, I relaxed and asked why, waiting to here some story about how I had done something wrong at home.

“Mom saw an accident total and she’s upset,” My son said and his tone told me that this is no joke.

“What happened?” I thought she had been in an accident for a moment.

“We were coming out of Walmart and a motorcycle got hit by a truck.,” he said.

Now I knew why I was in trouble.

My wife has never been happy about this project. She has legitimate concerns about the safety of motorcycles. She knows I am cautious. But she has no trust for the traffic that will be around me. She has tolerated this project reluctantly, knowing that it has brought me immense happiness (Despite all the frustrations) and has seen that my tinkering with the bike has brought me a level of contentment. But I knew that was about to change.

So, I began the long trip home, making my way through a park pushing the bike. Two blocks can be a long way when you anticipate a problem.

I parked the bike in the garage and came in to the house, waiting to hear about the accident. My wife was on the couch, talking with our daughters. She stopped to say hi, but went on with her conversation. Her exterior was calm, but I know her. We have almost twenty-five years together, so I don’t need many visual clues to know when she is upset. I went up to the bedroom and she followed a few minutes later.

“You saw an accident?” I asked.

“Yes.” She was quiet and sounded as if she didn’t want to go any further.

“Tell me about it.”

She didn’t look at me. She is usually a very direct woman. Its one of the things I admire about her. But she couldn’t look at me. She said they had been driving through the parking lot of the local shopping centre, moving from Walmart to the Future Shop. There is a secondary highway that runs by the stores. In the background, she was aware of the sound of a big bike, like a Harley. Suddenly, there was a loud crash and my wife and son stopped. They saw the accident seconds after it happened and went over to help. My wife was on the phone to emergency services right way and had to stay on the line to describe the situation to the 911 dispatcher.
The rider had been on the rode, travelling along when an SUV pulled out in front of him from the shopping centre parking lot. The bike t-boned the SUV at the hood and the rider few over the truck and landed hard. My wife said the visor plastic was broken everywhere. The rider tried to get up several times but people kept trying to get him to lie still until emergency vehicles arrived.

Then blood started rushing out of his helmet.

My wife was a pale as I had ever seen her at this point.

“I’m not sure if he was dead or not.”

People were calling out if anyone had first aid, but no one came forward. My wife was on the phone describing the events to the 911 operator. But to crowd was getting larger at this point and she was getting pushed out of the way. Police arrived first, then Fire & Rescue. With that, she left her number with the 911 operator in case anyone needed to talk to her, but she wanted to leave. She was disgusted by the people who just seemed to be coming to watch.

When she was done telling me the account, she got quiet. As I said, she was very pale. But she never said anything to me about my bike. I knew she wanted to, but I also know she wanted me to be happy.

“I’m selling the bike.” I said. She protested, saying she didn’t want to take anything from me.

But at that point I knew I had to get rid of it.

None of us live in a vacuum. We all live with choices, consequences and responsibilities. I made a choice twenty-two years ago to marry and live my life with this wonderful woman. I made a choice to have a family that I love dearly. These things lead to responsibilities, such as making sure I can support and maintain the family.

But there are greater responsibilities as well. And one is to do our best not to hurt the ones we love. My wife was willing to keep her fears to herself, but I could tell she was in pain about it. I know she would be thinking of the riders family and how their lives have changed in an instant. I know she would be thinking about the driver of the SUV, whose life has also changed in an instant mistake. I know she was in pain because she was trying to allow me to have my happiness.

I can’t have that. Working on the bike has been a blast. As I have said, there were frustrations, but I now know a great deal more about mechanics that I ever have. And riding was fun too. It was easier in many ways than I thought it would be. But then, I haven’t done it in traffic. But things like this are vastly less important than people.

And it already too easy to hurt the ones we love.

I am willing to live with the risk of motorcycle riding. But only for myself. I am not willing to live with the risk to the ones I love.

So, the bike is up for sale. If you are interested, look on Kijiji Brantford! (Ad ID 205445350)

I think I’ll go back to sailing….