Re: Life is so fragile.
Howard, on host 216.80.150.60
Sunday, September 28, 2003, at 17:13:54
Re: Life is so fragile. posted by Wedge on Saturday, September 27, 2003, at 22:51:19:
> It's always hard to tell what's going to happen next when you're riding horses. I've been bucked off myself, but I don't think you could find anyone who has been riding horses as long as I have who hasn't. My mom was riding her horse, Moonshine, back when she was still training him and he spooked at the sight of a deer and she fell off onto concrete. It have her a pretty serious concussion and it ruptured a couple of disks in her spine, she still has trouble with it. > > It's always sad to hear news like that, even if I don't have any type of connection with that particular person. Her friends and family will be in my prayers. > > Wed"BE CAREFUL!!!"ge
It isn't just horses. I know of four guys who were injured, one very seriously, just falling off their antique motor scooters. There are about seven or eight thousand scooter collectors in the two clubs that I belong to, and sometimes we go for a year without even a minor accident. Most of us have been riding scooters for decades and since we average about 60 years of age, we are a relatively conservative group.
But just hours before the beginning of last week's scooter meet, two friends collided on a mountain road and plunged over an embankment. One was hurt so seriously, he had to have his spleen removed to save his life. Someone said he is 65. The other one broke some bones and suffered lots of other injuries, but is recovering.
A week or so before that, a good friend of mine who lives in Florida, flipped his scooter and suffered head, knee and hand injuries. He said via email that he was going to have to miss the meet, but he was there. He is also 65 and although he looked battered and bruised, he was still riding one of his scooters.
And there was another guy who wrecked a newly restored scooter, got taken to the hospital, and before he could get patched up, somebody stole his scooter. He was hurt, sick and mad as a wet hen. I haven't heard if he got his scooter back yet, but it will be easy to identify if somebody shows up with it.
If one of us old guys gets totaled on a scooter, it will be sad, but not as much so as when it's someone as young as the young lady at your school. I had a former student who died at 16 and I still grieve when I think of all the things he missed. Howard
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