Most of you know mom and I took the Start Program to get our motorcycle license last month; well we went to the DMV and we both passed the test! We now have our official motorcycle license! We are biker babes! ;)
Riding a motorcycle is a very fun, relaxing and can be at times a dangerous 'sport'. You need the right gear to keep you safe for you and for other drivers to see you. You need a helmet, gloves, over the ankle boots, leather jacket with long sleeves, long pants etc.
Two weeks ago dad and Paul Kelson took mom on her first official ride (yes without me! Rude! hehe). She has all her gear on and ready to go! They took her up to Lowman area, then came back home. About 300 miles total. Well it's a windy road, and mom was doing Awesome! Dad was leading and Paul was in the back. There was a corner coming up that was a sharp turn; almost a 90 degree turn. Since it was a windy turn they weren't going too fast. So dad slowed down and turned accordingly. Mom was next. She saw the turn and slowed down, she didn't realize it was that sharp of a turn and didn't slow down to the right speed. She was going about 35 mph, but it wasn't slow enough. She knew at this point she wasn't going to make the turn so instead of 'over correcting' and trying to make the turn, she took the better, logical option. Keep straight and hope for the best. She hit the rocks/gravel and slid a little. She didn't want to get hurt really bad so she let go of the handle bars and "jumped off" the bike. Since the bike wasn't going that fast it didn't get very far and she didn't come off the bike completely. The bike fell on her foot and she is now laying on the ground. Paul was behind her and saw it all happen. Dad was ahead and looked back and noticed they were stopped and turned around and came to help. Paul had to stop his bike and stand his bike up before helping mom. Paul gets to mom and counldn't lift the bike by himself so he had to wait for dad to come help. They get the bike off mom and she stands up and brushes herself off. She is ok. she kind of scraped her arm and leg a little, and her boots are dusty and a little scratched but she is ok. Most of the damage is to the bike. One tiny hole in the knee of her jeans and NO scratches AT ALL on her leather jacket!
So they get situated and and head back for town! On the way home they stop for dinner in Horseshoe Bend. Mom goes to the bathroom and cleans up and washes her hands. When she gets back to the table she pulls up her sleeve and shows dad and Paul; she has about a 3 inch Gash/cut just above her elbow and its kind of bleeding. Mom says to dad, "I think I need stitches" as she squeezes the cut closed on the sides to see how bad it is. So they finish dinner, ride back to the shop to put the bikes away, and look at the damage of the bike and try to fix some it. They are there for about an hour. They finally decide to go home. On the way home dad asks, "do you want to go to Dr. Smith's house?" she says, "I don't care". So they drive to Dr. Smith's house, he's not home. Dad says, "what do you want to do?" mom says, " I think I need stitches." So dad continues to the emergency room at this time (keep in mind this is about 4 hours after the accident and about 9:30pm.) So they go to the emergency room and get in and out of the emergency room and show up just before we all show up from our own plans from the night. We all showed up at about 11:30-12am. Mom shows us her arm, "what in the world did you do? what happend?" dad says, "wait just a minute, let mom tell you" so we find mom and her arm is covered bandages and she is shock at this point. She comes down and she tells us what happened....and we say back to her, "mom why didn't you slow down?" "I don't know" mom slowy states. "But it was the best option." mom continues. So I help her tape up her bandage for the night. She then shows her her knee; "MOM!" I exclaimed. Her leg was swollen and scraped up too. So, the nurse I am/not, put some hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball and clean up her knee, AND the extra dried up blood on her arm the hospital didn't finish cleaning up. At this point it's about 2 am and we have church at 9am. I finished nursing up mom and we all went to bed and woke up for church at 9am. Mom wore a long skirt and a shirt that covered her arm so not everyone would look, and ask. She felt embarrassed; she messed up; she didn't slow down and she "ruined" a nice bike. But like I was telling mom while cleaning her up, "Its not your fault, that could have happened to anyone."
She had no idea she scrped up arm like that until she looked at it at the restaurant, like I said. Still to this day we are wondering how there is NOT A scratch on her leather jacket with a scrape that bad on her arm! The Lord was on her side.
She did all this and told us this with a smile on her face!
We learn from our mistakes and live on with a better life! Get well soon Mom! We love you!
In the emergency room
Her scraped up and swollen knee
Like I said; with a smile on her face :)
Saving the best for last...
After the stitches have been placed
Saving the VERY best for last!
BEFORE the stitches were placed!...
Please don't throw up on your computer screen!
Isn't that cool!
(I like gross things, hehe)
