The Long Road to Blessed

There was a going away dinner at a local restaurant for one of our friends. Neither of us felt like going anywhere that night but this was a long time friend and we wanted to be there for her. We thought it might make the night more fun if we rode my motorcycle into town. I loved riding the bike and having Marie with me made it even better. We left the restaurant after dinner and it was a beautiful August night. The temperature was perfect for a bike ride. As we headed toward home, I slowed down at our turn and then decided to go past it and ride a little longer and enjoy the nice weather. I turned off my turn signal and picked my speed back up to the speed limit. Marie gave me an approving tap on my leg that told me she was game for a ride too. It was about 9:30pm and the sun hadn't been down long. As we rode along, I saw three sets of headlights in the oncoming lane. One of the sets of headlights came into our lane and headed right at us. My eyes darted right and left looking for a way out as I thought "Oh God No!" I put my foot to the brake but they never had time to engage. By the time I finished the thought "oh God no," we had already been struck head on by the oncoming minivan. I saw a flash of light and heard a ringing in my head as I felt like I was floating for several seconds. I kept waiting to feel myself hit the ground but I never did. I woke up face down on the pavement.

At first I didn't feel anything so I tried to get up and look for Marie. When I tried to get up I couldn't and it sent extreme pain all through my body. It was the worst torment I have ever felt, in every single part of my body, all at the same time. There have not been words invented that describe what this wretchedness felt like. I had hit face first into the windshield and I was not wearing a helmet. I couldn't see anything but shapes moving around because my eyes were so blurry. I'm not sure if it was from the damage or all the blood on my face. I could taste the blood and gravel in my mouth and I could hear the driver of the other vehicle saying frantically that he didn't see us. I started screaming for help. I cried out "God please help us!" I tried getting up again but my body wouldn't work right and I felt like every part of me was broken. After a couple minutes I heard a familiar voice. "Help is on the way." He was a police officer and our sons had played sports together. It calmed me down for a few seconds to know that someone we knew was there. I responded "How's Marie?" He said, "Marie's here too!?" I said "yes find her!" She had been catapulted over the vehicle onto the side of the road. As he walked away to find Marie I started to panic. I kept trying to get up and go to her. I had to know she was ok, no matter what it took to get there. When I couldn't, I screamed out in pain and kept asking if she was ok. Some of the people who were on the scene later told me that they had a hard time getting me to calm down and lay still. They said, they couldn't stop me from trying to go to Marie. Someone finally walked up and said "We found her... she's in better shape than you are." Considering I was awake and talking, I figured maybe she was ok. I had no idea how severely injured I actually was.