RIDE A BIKE, ITS FUNNER!

running silent...

Not really running deep though, just playing it quiet like, just really had nothing to add the conversation. Felt like spending some time just being quiet. Have not really been riding, or running, or doing anything much other than really working hard. Funny how sometimes at work it is nice and steady and then there is a lot to be done. I like being the one that gets to do it, so that is good. But it keeps me busy and it makes me tired, so I just felt like laying low. Slowly though I have been getting back out into the world though. I have done a couple of early season wine wife stuff, a couple of tastings. I like that. It is like playing grownup for the evening. And I have even taken a couple of bike rides. I have slowly been working on getting my husband interested in biking. I would really like it if he would, then we could take vacations with our bikes. I really like the sound of doing that, but I really need for him to get interested in doing that too. Things were going really pretty well, he has taken a spinning class and he has been shopping for a new more comfortable bike than the one he has, a scandia with campy components. We are going to hang it in the family room as art, though it is going to need some work. It is a beautiful bike, but it like my husband took quite a beating today. We were on our way down to the mill to buy some coffee, and first he fell over like we all have just because he could not clip out. That fall was actually sort of amusing, we all know the big details because everyone with clips has taken that fall. But the part where he was stuck on his back and could not clip out till I grabbed his bike and sort of held it firm till he could clip out, that was pretty amusing. If we had turned around then we would have been fine. But we pressed on. After all we are talking coffee for the espresso machine, it is important. we had not even gone another quarter of a mile then the second fall happened. The second was the big one. The one with all the blood, and confusion and chaos. A car which parked right in front of us, was getting ready to open the door right into us, so Emory moved away, and his back tire struck his dads front. I still say from where I saw it the woman had slung open the car door, but Emory does not recall it that way. Frankly it was sort of traumatic to everyone. All the blood, it makes your heart race. And Steve was being sort of goofy, and hard to handle. That should have been my queue. But I missed it, so as soon as everything seemed calm again we got on our bikes and went home, we were still only about 8 minutes from home, but in 20/20 hindsight it was the wrong thing to do. Even though the doctor at the ER said he would have probably done the same thing. By the time we got back to the house, the confusion was solidly upon Steve, he kept asking "So what happened", Emory or I would tell him, a few seconds would go by and he would ask it again. He did not ask it too many times, I can tell you that. I missed the first queue of him being a goof on the scene, I was not going to miss the second, I got really insistent really fast and he was in the car and on the way to ER. All you really need to say at the ER, and of course you need to mean it, Is Head Injury with memory loss and confusion, you can say chest pain but you better mean that one too. That he had no short term memory really got them going pretty quickly in that slow motion watching you sort of way that happens in the ER. He has a pretty good concusion. He is going to be really sore the next few days. But he is going to be ok. Emory and I both had our helmets on. Steve did not, he has been shopping for one, but he hates wearing my old one, and just decided not to today. I feel really fortunate to tell you he is fine tonight. But in those minutes when he could not remember why we were on our bikes, or why we were over in that neighborhood, or the name of his elementary school which we had just passed when this all happened, I could imagine it all disappearing and doing it with a speed that takes your breath away. We were relieved to get to the hospital and to be close to intervention if it came to that. And we were even able to joke with the staff after the short term memory thing started to fade. I think he still does not really recall the events, but at least now when I tell him what happened he can repeat it pretty well back to me. If he had had his helmet on things could have still gone badly, but, there is also a good chance that things would not have gone as badly as they did. I have done it too, I am from a time when there were not even helmets in competition, and I love to ride my bike without my helmet, I tell myself it feels great to ride a bike like I did when I was kid. I do not think you will see me riding my bike without my helmet again. If you see Emory riding without his, please tell me, I know you will not see Steve riding without his. I took some pictures and I will post them when I figure out how to get them out of his phone. It was a big day, we are all tired, soon I will write about waiting for drugs at the 24 hr Walgreens and how really interesting it was, but for now, please, if you are reading this blog, your probably a friend, even if I only know you through the blogs, please wear your helmet, pretty please.

posted by monkeygirl @ 8:31 PM