In the the Blink of an Eye

I woke this morning with a nagging feeling I should remember something but I could not place that something just at the fringe of my memory. It was a little later when I was at my sink shaving and I noticed the calendar behind me in the mirror. I was thinking of the week to come and glanced at the calendar concentrating as I reversed then numbers in my head and saw today was the 16^th of July. July 16^th?, JULY 16TH!! This is the day, the very day forty years ago that I broke my neck.

I was 15 years old and I had “stolen” my older brothers motorcycle for the day. He had a little 80CC Yamaha and i had a smaller 55cc so do the math. More CC= more speed. I had learned to turn on his bike with a metal finger nail file. I did this as often as I could. He was out of the state spending the summer with my older brother in North Carolina; so essentially I “owned” his bike. I am still quite surprised my parents allowed me to do this. They had to know what I was doing. But, I was keeping the bike filled with gas and keeping out of their hair—I loved the Sixties.

I had a summer job cutting grass and I had just started my first “real” job at a KFC in Boise, Idaho one of my friends had gotten me. It was my third day on the job and I was planning on going to KFC as soon as I had finished the lawn and raced home and got into my cook's whites. I hate shoes, but you all know that, and so I had my shoes off cutting the grass as I usually did. My feet were green by the end of the day's job. I noticed then when I got home and jumped out of my cutoffs and pulled on my only pair of white levis and pulled on my converses and white shirt and I was off. What i still remember was that I felt good, the sun blasting through my hair hurtling down the road at 35 mph. I had even rigged a small transistor radio onto the handle bars and could hear the music if I was lucky. This day I was lucky or so I thought. I was hearing the music loud and clear. In fact, I remember Red Rubber Ball was playing when I came to the stop sign at the intersection of Boise Avenue and Broadway. The last sight I remember is the sun reflecting off what must have been a windshield a distance down the Broadway. I figured I had enough time to get across the street. Now the 80 Yamaha's gear sequencing is different then the 55 Yamaha's. I can only figure that I placed the motorcycle in to second or third gear rather then first. The bike must have chugged out to the middle of the intersection and '”flooded out”. I can imagine myself fiddling with the gears trying to reach “Neutral” and allowing me to start the bike and finish crossing the intersection....the car was driven by an old man going faster then he should. He hit me broadside, I flew into the windshield breaking my skull and instantly braking my neck. I would never walk again,make a fist or walk on my hands. But, I have had a great life, wife and wonderfully brilliant, and supportive kids and now grand kids. I work, I drive I ride the train and own half a mortgage. I weigh more then I should and love my life. Happy Anniversary