Slowdown and live - My Supernatural Experience (SWC)

Many might be able to relate, but I lived my life at a disorderly speed.  Often being hypocritical about my time management, I always wanted to finish task as soon as possible but always found myself procrastinating and in a rush.  When one is in a hurry their only objective is to finish, thus overlooking the small and simple.  I use this as an analogy to explain how I lived my life, figuring it would catch up one day but being unashamed and renouncing the thought.

I am fairly mechanically inclined having previously worked at a local Euro performance shop, finishing auto-body school and longing to open my own shop.  I was awaiting a Job at a Chevron refinery for the sake of self-financing my dream shop.  With my start date at Chevron about a month away an opportunity arose to buy a street bike that needed a new engine and bargain it upon completion.  After a long weekend finishing the motor swap and the little details, it was completed that Monday afternoon.  Going to bed with a feeling of completion, I set my alarm for an orthodontist appointment I had the next morning.  Awaking that morning pressing snooze repeatedly not realize the consequences of prolonging my sleep that morning, I got up in a hurry deciding to take the motorcycle in an attempt to make it on time.

Making it as far as to a mile away from the Orthodontist office I was stuck behind a red Lexus, behind a delivery truck taking his time.  The road was a two way single lane road, meaning to pass I had to go into the opposing lane.  After following behind for about a minute and no one in sight on the opposing lane, I had enough and downshifted in an attempt to overtake.  I was following a good distance behind so I was able to pick up speed and as I approached about to pass the red car, she decided to try to overtake the delivery truck right when i was coming up beside her in the opposing lane.  She rapidly switched into the lane I was on as if on purpose or as I like to believe, a perfectly timed coincidence. 

I reacted rapidly coming hard onto my brakes and maneuvering in an attempt to dodge her, I tried my best not to side sweep her and managed to just drop my bike without coming into contact with her.  It was all just reactions as I only remember hearing my tires squeal and the limited vision from within my helmet, I would just see the road, then the sky, then the road, then sky again repeatedly.  I tried my best to huddle my arms and legs in what seemed an endless blank state of mind just watching and wondering when I would come to a stop.

After being slowed down to a halt in a ditch that ran next to the road, I was face down into the ditch.  Off the adrenaline I did not feel anything so I quickly stood up, as soon as I came up, I came back down into the ditch.  Raising my leg up above the water seeing my foot broken into the inside of my leg and pointing up.  Realizing i was not going to be able to walk out the ditch I tried to crawl out using my arms, noticing I was not able to move my arm for it had dislocated from my shoulder.

With one leg and one arm I managed to get out of the freezing ditch, once out, I noticed how scratched up I was and almost naked for all my clothes had ripped off sliding on the street with only my boxers hanging on to spare my dignity.  I was rushed to the hospital in what I thought was the coldest ambulance ever.  I was fresh and very positive guy, I accepted it that it happen and made the best of the  situation asking the paramedic lady if she could take and send me a picture of my first ambulance ride.  She thought I was crazy but accepted to take this picture in which I tried my best to smile in.

My positivism was torn from me after feeling the full extent of the physical pain and just having to live the next almost two months without being able to barely move.  I relied on a wheelchair to be able to get into the car for the wound care visits at the hospital every other day. I had so much road rash on my back, my legs and underside of my arms that I was wrapped up almost like a mummy.  My wounds drained constantly, reason for the repetitive hospital visits to get my wounds cleaned and clean bandages.

Wounds were too deep to clean at home for you could see my muscle on my calf, and my tendons and heal bone on my broken foot. Since it had broken in a way that blood was not flowing and I had a lot of dead tissue that had to be removed.  I slept on a couch since my wounds were too bad on my backside that I could not scoot into my bed.  My arms and legs where so swollen from the trauma that It was unbearably painful to even move into my wheelchair or stand up, that I had this big belt given to us from the hospital that would be placed around my stomach so my brothers could pick me up and place me into the wheelchair or toilet.  I could not even move around enough to pull my own clothes down so my family members had to do everything for me, I was completely incapacitated. Nights where long with fevers and cold sweats all night up until around two months.

Mentally I was destroyed since I lost my opportunity for the job at chevron, and I do not have health insurance because i was counting on the insurance I would receive at work.  So I was left with high medical bills for the 4 days spent at hospital various surgery and wound care visits, also with a destroyed bike that was uninsured since I had just got it and was not supposed to be riding it anyways since it was for sale.  The lady who cut me off left clean handed since I managed to dodger her and never made contact with her car, she was not even on the accident report.

My reason for posting a graphic story like this is for the Supernatural writing Contest by @jerrybanfield to explain how this taught me to learn to appreciate and to take my time as needed for everything.  I reached my lowest point where I appreciated the stuff we take for granted like simply walking or being able to go to the restroom on your own or taking showers at that.  Most of all to be thankful for having those loved ones around you, to be understanding of them and never rude to them, for even when everything is taken from you they will always still be there for you.  Finally that you never know what will happen and to always be the best human you can be because life can easily be taken in the blink of an eye.

I was granted another chance at life and here I am 3 months later learning to walk again and being able to do my own things again, more grateful and happy than I have been my entire life, for this is a beautiful life.  We are here for a good time because we do not know if we will be here for a long time.