You Never Know Who is Counting on You

No joke, there I was...

I had gone out looking for a new pair of sneakers earlier this evening (6 - 7PM). After an unsuccessful attempt there, I decide to head to the beach*. After spending about a half hour there (time is now 9PM), post sunset, I left to meet my dad for a late dinner at Perkins' restaurant. Just as I was about to make a left turn, turn signal on & in the turn lane, this kid in the right lane lays down his bike & goes skidding across the road (9:14PM). Now, he is in the right lane & his bike is in the middle of the road, just enough to keep traffic from passing in the left lane. I immediately move to the right lane with my emergency flashers on so that my truck will act as a roadblock to prevent oncoming traffic from hitting him. You want to talk about a thousand yard stare, this kid had it. After he sort of came back to the here and now, with traffic backing up, he and I move his bike to the side of the road. I have him sit back down & go move my truck out of the road & into a nearby parking lot. Mind you, none of the other drivers care to get out and help. While I'm going to park my truck, I give my dad a call & inform him of the situation and the fact that his medical skills may be needed. As a safety precaution, I also opened my pocket knife & put it in my dominant side pocket, just incase. I park & jog back over to him to find him sitting on the curb in a near complete daze (shock). I start talking to him and eventually get a conversation going. Best he could tell, he didn't have any broken bones, and I couldn't see anything that looked too out of place. Turns out, he laid the bike down two weeks ago, on the other side. His girlfriend nearly killed him for that because her brother died in a motorcycle accident two years ago. He was afraid to tell her about this incident too. He'd been on his way to meet some friends so he came them a call on his Nextel and told them where we were at so they could come pick him up because the bike wasn't starting. Since we were still close to the road, I advised that we move to the parking lot. We get the bike to the parking spot and I have him sit back down again. I head back to the side of the road to retrieve his helmet. In the mean time, his friends start to show up. Once I get back, he's taken his shoe & sock partially off to reveal a very swollen foot - probably dislocated or broken. Since his friends are there and there isn't much more that I can do, I decide to head over to Perkins' (just across the street).

As my dad & I were discussing the recent twist in my night, I realized that I probably saved the kid's life by parking my truck between him & oncoming traffic since it was on a bend in the road. That made for some interesting thoughts. I thought about how if I'd been driving just a little faster, I would have probably already made the turn & had never seen it happen. I thought about what might have happened had I gone straight home instead of going to the beach after I went looking for those shoes. It also reminded me that you never really know when you're going to be needed. You never know when you are the only thing that stands between a person and death. Someone is counting on you, counting on you to be there in that moment when they are helpless and all they can do is watch. Be ready for your time. You never know when you'll be needed.

*The beach is the place I go when I need to think, recharge, or relax. When I'm at the beach, I'm officially "home". The beach is a very important place, personally.


Crispy