Tag: accident | A Banana Peeled

Tag Archives: accident

Luck be, no maybe

Posted on May 28, 2023 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

My Taiji teacher told me that her classmate got into a terrible motorcycle accident last Sunday. He had a super-great helmet (which got crushed) so his head is fine, but the left side of his body is destroyed. Everything is broken, torn, or sprained. Collarbone, tibia, maybe femur, arm. Broken bones mend, yes, but torn ligaments take longer. We’re talking probably at least a year if not longer. He had a heart attack a few years back–or was it a stroke? Pretty sure it was a heart attack.

At any rate, he’s in a world of hurt. He’s still in the hospital, obviously, and he’s going to be for some time. I, on the other hand, was in and out of the hospital in two weeks. This has been on my mind lately. How incredibly lucky I was.

I felt it keenly for the first month or so after I woke up. The hospital chaplain asked if I questioned why the experience happened to me. No! I’m not special. There’s no reason I shouldn’t have walking (non-COVID-related) pneumonia, two cardiac arrests, and a stroke.

It’s fascinating to me when people think that they should be excepted from something because–well, I’m not sure why. It was like when 9/11 happened. So many people said incredulously that they could not believe it had happened here in America whereas I was just surprised it hadn’t happened earlier.

I told the hospital chaplain that I had no reason to think something like that should not happen to me, but what did surprise me was that I didn’t stay dead. That was where the ‘why me?’ came in. Why was I lucky enough to come back for a second time and not die again?

I know that sounds morbid. It’s not meant to be, though. The first six months I was back alive, i marveled about it almost constantly. I should have been dead. I should have been dead. I should be dead. I am not dead. That is the proper declension of that.

Once in a while, I will tihnk about it and be stunned at how lucky I am. A year and 3/4ths later, I am better than ever. I have a few issues such as short-term memory gaps and having to flounder about for a word now and again, but I will take it in exchange for being alive.

Really, that’s the kicker every time. I’m alive when I should be dead. There’s no way that can be overstated or overemphasized. I should not be here. My life should be over. The fact that I still draw breath is incredible and amazing!

Let it snow, let it snow, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET IT SNOW

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

WHERE IS MY SNOW?!? — The majesty of freshly-fallen snow.

I’ve been like a kid in the candy store with no money for the past few weeks, watching everywhere in the US* get snow. Places that shouldn’t get snow have gotten hit, and places that are supposed to get snow have been hammered. I was driving a few weeks ago, and I heard on MPR that cities in northern Minnesota were getting up to a foot of snow. I nearly cried in frustration because in the Twin Cities, we’ve had one measurable snowfall, and that seems like ages ago.

Fast-forward to yesterday. It was lightly snowing as I went to taiji, and people were mostly fine. Cautious and slow, which is exactly right as it’s snowing. It’s also bitterly cold. Right now it “feels like” -8, and it’s supposed to get down to a windchill of -55. I mean, I’m a cold person, but that’s too cold even for me. I’ve found that the older I get, the less I’m able to handle extreme cold. I have a little test every winter to see how long it takes me to roll up the car windows in the winter. In the past, I had them down, even when it was well below zero. Now, I’m finding that I have to put gloves on around ‘feels like’ -5, and I’ll probably roll them up if I go anywhere in the next few days. -30 was beyond me even during the old days, though, especially with a windchill of -55.

Back to driving to taiji. There was a sudden slowdown, and because I was well behind the car in front of me, I was able to slow my car down with no problem (in the right lane). However, an SUV in the left lane (two lanes over) was apparently texting or talking on their phone whilst driving because the SUV suddenly spun out and started careening wildly all over its lane before spinning into the lane next to it. It dinged another SUV/van-like vehicle as the driver struggled for control. The spinning SUV pulled over to the left shoulder while the dinged vehicle pulled over to the right shoulder. I felt really bad for the second driver because through no fault of their own, they had to deal with the fallout of being hit for an hour or so in the bitter cold.

Side rant: This is purely anecdotal, but it seems like the bigger/fancier the car, the more reckless the driver. What I mean is that whenever I come across cars that are spun-out or in a ditch, they tend to be SUVs and such. My theory is that they think they’re invincible given all the bells and whistles they have. It gives them an over-inflated sense of invulnerability and a skewed sense of safety. In addition, everyone is so distracted when they drive these days. It’s a recipe for disaster.