For all the complaining many of us do
about the press interjecting opinion into news stories, there are times when it
is appropriate.
Several lives were forever
changed Thursday, July 28 as the result of a fatal car accident on Washington
County roads.
1960 saw the death of a close friend in a
dumb car wreck. It is about 42 miles from Steamboat Springs, CO to Craig, CO.
How fast you could drive it was a local tradition. Boasts of doing it in 22
minutes abounded but were probably bullshit. There are few straight sections
more than two miles in length, two small towns along the way (three at that
time), and a section along a cliff prone to rock slides.
My friend, Tad Brown, was one of two
passengers in a red 1960 Chevy convertible. The driver’s parents were wealthy.
The driver was going to set a new record. Just outside of Steamboat, westbound,
he hit a mailbox set in a milk can full
of cement, dead center of his steering
column, breaking it. The car went into
the ditch and started rolling. The driver and one passenger survived. Tad didn’t.
Tad was one of my first friends when my
parents settled in Steamboat. His sister, Ginger, was my first crush. His
father, a Chiropractor, moved his practice to Craig. Despite the distance, Tad,
Ginger and I stayed in touch. Alas, Ginger found a boyfriend in Craig.
Tad’s parents held an open casket
funeral. The Mortuary did not do any cosmetic work. We high schoolers walked by
and saw a face so battered as to be unrecognizable. You can only guess how many
attitudes were adjusted that afternoon. I know mine was. While I never talked
to his parents, I’m sure that was the effect they wanted; to keep some other
parents from knowing their grief.
We humans never know why fate takes one
of us and not another, or us. Maybe we must die to find out. My hope is I will
never bury one of my children.
6 comments:
We all hope and pray for that not to happen. Many of us also wonder why we are still here when others close to us are not. Now days there are more of us leaving this world than ever, the effects of aging and bad choices. Hang in there, WSF. We need you around.
Truly sad, and some lessons are NEVER learned by the next generation...
I've always said I want to live long enough to be a burden on my children and get even with the little shits.
Yep. We all learn them. Seems to be the way of the world.
+1 on Old_NFO.
One day years ago I was "lecturing: my son about something, and I stopped dead in my tracks....
It had hit me that I sounded exactly like MY father....
Lucky you. I sounded like my mother.
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