Coincidence

The day was 9/11, in the year of double zero when I took my mountain bike out for a ride
All tuned up with brand new tires, new chain & handlebars, that pretty “Specialized” could really glide.

As I rode out to the nuke plant, a 5 mile one-way trip, I noticed that the western sky was black,
Like all of life’s surprises, I didn’t have a clue; I was riding out but wasn’t coming back.

As I got out to the nuke plant and went into the turn, the thought occurred I might be running late
And I often sit & wonder as I think about it now if that fleeting thought determined that day’s fate

I thought I was Lance Armstrong as I rode that bike along and pumping hard to make a quick return
I could feel the cool wind in my face and smell the autumn leaves as I felt my back & legs begin to burn

I came up to a stop sign, a tractor trailer passed and I looked for cars from either left or right,
I thought the road was clear and as I slowed a bit to cross that was when someone turned out the lights.

I felt a flash of burning pain then bumps around my head and I knew that I was flying through the air
Then all went black with sparkling lights of red & green and blue that exploded in a searing brilliant glare.

A Buick going 55 was hidden by a shrub and I did not see her sudden fast approach
She hit me broadside, I flew up, the windshield caught my head, she hit the brakes and that was all she wrote.

I woke up on a stretcher in the gravel by the road, and I heard the sirens wailing, saw the clouds go rolling by
My neighbor Tom has said to me “I saw a bloody mess” and he always says he thought that I would die.

Mary Ann was by my side as the firemen did their work and they prepped me for my ride to the ER
The life flight to the trauma center seemed to take an hour as Tom & Mary Ann came in the car.

Contusions, lacerations, busted leg and broken arm, my helmet left some white scars on my head
Major wounds behind my knee and big cuts on my face and lots of shock because I wasn’t dead.

When I look back and think of all the accidents I’ve had, tractor, truck & car mishaps galore
I think I lost my seventh life that cloudy autumn day & I figure I’ve got just about 2 more.

The moral of the story is remember what you’ve got and never waste your time on little things.
That every next split second could quickly change your life or bring about that dreaded death knell ring.

I still ride my bike and run the highways near my home & rollerblade and have some real good times
But there’s one thing I’m cured of and have been since that day, I do a total halt at all stop signs.