crime scene

wear your helmet.

the area immediately surrounding my house was turned into an all out crime scene for six hours this evening. it was car v. motorcycle. the car containing three 19 year old girls and one 16 year old one...the motorcycle being ridden by a 25 your old man.

the young man was (it saddens me TREMENDOUSLY to think that there will be lots of was'ing about this guy in the days, weeks, months, years to come) breathing when he left the scene. those who saw it prayed for his quick and painless death.

wear your helmet.

witnesses said he was driving like young kids often do on motorcycles. weaving in and out of traffic. pushing the limit. going too fast. getting a thrill. as I type he's either already dead or fighting the battle of his life...and countless others will be affected forever by what happened in a split second tonight.

PLEASE wear your helmet.

I awoke from a nap this afternoon a half hour late for a family volleyball game...ran outside, probably about to drive too fast and too carelessly myself, and saw a car...with a motorcylce underneath it. the girls in the care were unscathed physically...the biker had just recently been removed from the scene. my gut dropped. I've seen this before. I've NEVER liked how this looks.

as a small child, maybe five or six years old, there was a motorcycle accident down the street from us. as a minister AND a motorcyclist...my dad ran right down. in the confusion...I managed to slip through the police cars, on-lookers, etc...

and watched my first person die.

when I was older, still a motorcyclist, my father took my mother for an afternoon ride...planning on being home in an hour or so. six hours later we got the call from the hospital from my father. "I'm ok, but your mom is hurt pretty bad."

seeing that motorcycle lying on the ground. seeing the cracked windshield. seeing the blood stained cement...took me back 25 years. watching a living, breathing person slip away. seeing their limbs stop moving, their eyes go dull and almost being able to actually see their spirit slip away. it took me back 18 years to my mother's battered body in traction...wondering if she was ever going to be ok and if she hurt real bad.

I talked to the driver. I talked to her friends. I talked to her father. I told her...no matter what she does, she can't blame herself. It was a dangerous intersection. It could happen to me. It could happen to anyone. As long as she knows that she did what she was supposed to...if she drove cautiously, checked carefully and paid attention...she's not emotionally response for his death (quality of life?)...

yet I know its not true. all of those girls will forever feel responsible for what happened. "Was I going too fast? Was I talking too loudly? Did I distract her? I shouldn't have asked her to go back to get my phone..."

I came home this evening at almost 11 o'clock to find the car still there. the motorcycle still there. fire trucks and cranes lighting the area. crime scene specialists everywhere...

trying to recreate what happened.

making me sad and scared.

ensuring I won't sleep tonight.

I don't believe in God...but I'll be doing my equivalent of praying for all of those kids tonight...
and probably every time I pull out of my parking spot.

and I know...I'll never make that left turn, again.