It's 11:30 on a Wednesday night and I'm on a service road driving my 2003 Mazda hatchback that perfectly reflects my social status. Cigarette sparks bounce off the cold road on occasion as I breathe in a mix of nicotine and artificial heat. Gotta' keep the window down even though its -8 outside so the wife won't smell the smoke tomorrow. She hates it when I smoke. Hair metal rocks along inside the vehicle, bass cracking slightly as it shoots out of my still fairly new stock speakers. I casually run my hand through my semi-buzzed haircut somewhat yearning for the golden locks that were once attached to my head back in the 80's.
"I'm too old for that now" I say to myself, traded that life in. A guitar for briefcase exchange about 12 years back gave me the life I have today and it's better this way. I'm on my way home from an exhausting, coffee filled, night at the office but it'll all be worth it come Friday. The kids are off school, and after 6 hours in a car on a 4 hour drive and countless verses of "are we there yet?" I'll finally be able to show the kids the mountains. Who knows, maybe Ben will like skiing with his old man, and this can become a yearly thing. We're even going to try and find a kiddy getup for Alex so she can learn the slopes with her older brother and daddy. Do they make skis for 5 year olds?
Streetlights shining through the passenger side I see a set of lights ahead. One more intersection, one last obstacle between me and my semi-detached 4 level paradise, populated by my 2 children, Sharon my loving wife, our dog Oscar, and my warm bed with the new memoryfoam pillow I just got for my birthday. Suddenly, my mind is brought back to earth from planet whatshouldipack as the tires below me spin a little over the icy roads. I regain control as the light turns from yellow to red and I notice a pickup to my left turning.
Taptaptap on the window shakes me awake, well, I never really fell asleep but I'm definitely awake now. Awkwardly reaching across my body with my right hand I open my car door. "Are you ok?" the pickup driver asks me. Looking down I notice my Marks Work Warehouse jeans have a new burn mark in them, the culprit still smoldering alongside my feet. I think about Mr.Pickups question and as my head turns left I see blood. Shining off my pale skin I notice a gash along my arm, nothing serious, I've gotten worse during bar fights back in the day.
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little shooken up" rings out of my mouth although I don't remember telling my brain to say the words. Mr.Pickup doesn't really care anyway, he's already chatting on his cellphone to God know who as a young gentleman is walking towards me, well at least I think he's a gentleman, It's not like I've met him before or anything, but at least he had the courtesy to pull over. "Are you guys alright? That looked pretty bad" he asks and again my body responds with "Yeah we're ok" without me really thinking. The maybe gentleman rings off another question "You need to call someone? Ive already called an ambulance". "Yeah, you mind if I use your phone to call my wife?" he hands me the blackberry and I fumble with the fancy buttons finally getting the correct sequence of numbers and a familiar voice. "Hey hun, I was just in an accident, Nono I'm ok, everyones ok, but if you can get the kids up, let's leave for the cottage tonight."
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For those of you who didn't get it the kid with the phone was me. About an hour ago I witnessed an accident about 10 blocks from my home and before I poured this story out I was truly fretting out. 11:30pm on a cold Wednesday with slippery roads, I definitely would have run that yellow, and had someone not been in front of me the truck would have definitely crashed in to me. Who knows if I would have been as lucky. My hands shook as I pulled into the parking lot of my parents condo and even now I feel like I narrowly escaped a game of dice with death. Sleep soundly and live lively everyone, who knows when you might get another chance to see the mountains.
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An old friend of mine was once furious with the world, angry at her surroundings for whatever reason. Her friend who sadly killed himself sometime after told her to look at the trees outside her window. There had been an ice storm the night before and the trees were covered in glasslike frozen water causing a truly beautiful spectacle.
Although she's told me the story a few times, and although I hope she never has to read this for fear of dredging up bad memories, that will always stick with me. Whenever the world just doesn't seem right, look at the trees, who knows if they will ever be that beautiful again.
"I'm too old for that now" I say to myself, traded that life in. A guitar for briefcase exchange about 12 years back gave me the life I have today and it's better this way. I'm on my way home from an exhausting, coffee filled, night at the office but it'll all be worth it come Friday. The kids are off school, and after 6 hours in a car on a 4 hour drive and countless verses of "are we there yet?" I'll finally be able to show the kids the mountains. Who knows, maybe Ben will like skiing with his old man, and this can become a yearly thing. We're even going to try and find a kiddy getup for Alex so she can learn the slopes with her older brother and daddy. Do they make skis for 5 year olds?
Streetlights shining through the passenger side I see a set of lights ahead. One more intersection, one last obstacle between me and my semi-detached 4 level paradise, populated by my 2 children, Sharon my loving wife, our dog Oscar, and my warm bed with the new memoryfoam pillow I just got for my birthday. Suddenly, my mind is brought back to earth from planet whatshouldipack as the tires below me spin a little over the icy roads. I regain control as the light turns from yellow to red and I notice a pickup to my left turning.
Taptaptap on the window shakes me awake, well, I never really fell asleep but I'm definitely awake now. Awkwardly reaching across my body with my right hand I open my car door. "Are you ok?" the pickup driver asks me. Looking down I notice my Marks Work Warehouse jeans have a new burn mark in them, the culprit still smoldering alongside my feet. I think about Mr.Pickups question and as my head turns left I see blood. Shining off my pale skin I notice a gash along my arm, nothing serious, I've gotten worse during bar fights back in the day.
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little shooken up" rings out of my mouth although I don't remember telling my brain to say the words. Mr.Pickup doesn't really care anyway, he's already chatting on his cellphone to God know who as a young gentleman is walking towards me, well at least I think he's a gentleman, It's not like I've met him before or anything, but at least he had the courtesy to pull over. "Are you guys alright? That looked pretty bad" he asks and again my body responds with "Yeah we're ok" without me really thinking. The maybe gentleman rings off another question "You need to call someone? Ive already called an ambulance". "Yeah, you mind if I use your phone to call my wife?" he hands me the blackberry and I fumble with the fancy buttons finally getting the correct sequence of numbers and a familiar voice. "Hey hun, I was just in an accident, Nono I'm ok, everyones ok, but if you can get the kids up, let's leave for the cottage tonight."
---
For those of you who didn't get it the kid with the phone was me. About an hour ago I witnessed an accident about 10 blocks from my home and before I poured this story out I was truly fretting out. 11:30pm on a cold Wednesday with slippery roads, I definitely would have run that yellow, and had someone not been in front of me the truck would have definitely crashed in to me. Who knows if I would have been as lucky. My hands shook as I pulled into the parking lot of my parents condo and even now I feel like I narrowly escaped a game of dice with death. Sleep soundly and live lively everyone, who knows when you might get another chance to see the mountains.
---
An old friend of mine was once furious with the world, angry at her surroundings for whatever reason. Her friend who sadly killed himself sometime after told her to look at the trees outside her window. There had been an ice storm the night before and the trees were covered in glasslike frozen water causing a truly beautiful spectacle.
Although she's told me the story a few times, and although I hope she never has to read this for fear of dredging up bad memories, that will always stick with me. Whenever the world just doesn't seem right, look at the trees, who knows if they will ever be that beautiful again.
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