WHAT THE?!.......Did I just see that?

There are 2 ways to "See" things in my way of thinking? You can actually take in a sight with your own eyes and have that image embedded onto your brain OR someone can describe what they have seen and create the image in your mind for you.

The first one is, of course, the easiest to take in. The second one is sort of what I try to do in my own little way with this blog.

So today I am going to tell you some things I have seen. Not all of them from the seat of my truck, but all with my own little near sighted, contact lens wearing, slightly astigmatized , blue eyeballs.

The most beautiful and at the same time disturbing thing I have EVER seen was the birth of my son. For the first time, I actually saw this little dude I had been having conversations with and dreaming of meeting for the last 9 months. As all parents think, but I actually know for a fact, Jack was the most perfect baby ever born! I know, I know, you guys all think your children were the most perfect, but I am here to tell you that YOU ARE WRONG! =-) He had a perfect head, perfect little mouth, perfect hands and feet and a perfect little body. Sure, there was some kinda gunk all over this specimen of perfection, but we will blame that on his mommy, cause I know I didn't put it there!

However, while a beautiful thing, it was also "kinda" gross. I do not need to go into the details here. Joanne was a trooper through the whole ordeal even before MR. Epidural came to help out with the event. As this event was going on, after this event was finished, and even to this day, her beauty comes in at #2. How she does all that she does and still remains upright and breathing amazes me every day.

I have seen a 10 foot snow bank next to me in the Rocky Mountains, even as I was taking off my sweat jacket because it was getting too hot.

I have seen the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, and set over the fields of Kansas with a rainbow of colors painting the sky.

I have seen the Northern Lights in Alaska. They were so vivid it almost seemed like someone had taken a can of translucent green spray paint and covered the sky with it. They were so intense, I did not realize for a minute or so what i was actually looking at. They moved and shimmered like they were alive.

While in Alaska, I watched Bald Eagles perched on a light post on Douglas bridge for days on end. They were watching the waters of the inside passage, waiting for the right fish I guess. I saw Cruise ships with thousands of people come to see the beauty I had the privilege of seeing everyday.

I have seen numerous car accidents, truck accidents and one bus accident. Many with fatalities, most with just damaged sheet metal and rising insurance premiums.

In Northern Indiana, I got to see an Amish teenagers buggy! How do I know it was a teenager's? Well, I drive through Amish country every day. At night, since they are all painted black, they have flashing lights on them so people will see them BEFORE they hit them. Some of them have only 2 amber lights on front, and 2 red lights on the back. Others put "running" lights on them to make them a little more visible. The teenagers buggy however, also had NEON lights underneath. I kid you not! If I had a camera with me, I would show you the proof now, but alas, I did not, so you will just have to take my word for it.

But there is one thing I saw with my own little 2 eyes that have made one big change in the way I drive, whether in my car or truck. Hopefully, I can paint this picture so you might make the same decision.

On the Indiana toll road, about the 28 mile marker, traffic came to a stop. It was backed up on both lanes as far as I could see and it did not make me happy. Some idiot had undoubtedly caused an accident and had the road shut down, making me and everyone else on their way to wherever late! I was ticked.

I jumped on my CB trying to find out where the accident was and what had happened so I could let my dispatcher know what was going on and when I might be expected at my destination. My load was HOT, you know. But nobody was talking. Lots of people were asking the same thing, but nobody ahead of us, and nobody coming from the other direction was responding. This was making me even angrier. I was becoming more impatient as the minutes rolled by. We were moving, but at a snails pace, and I am only allowed to be on the clock 14 hours in a day. This was going to ruin my weekend! All because some IDIOT DRIVER WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION!!

Finally, I could see some flashing lights up ahead. There sure were a lot of them. But there were no tow trucks, only ambulance lights and firetruck lights. "A truck must have caught fire" or something like that I thought. "Some dumb driver probably let a seal go without repairing it and caught his truck on fire. Great, Just great!"

Once I got to the scene of the accident though, I realized why everyone was so quiet. There, on the side of the road, was a body covered in a blood soaked, white sheet. A young man leaned against a car parked on the side of the road, obviously distraught. Another car was parked behind that one with the flashers on. State troopers were taking measurements. One officer was talking to a car that was parked about 500 feet in front of the other 2. I made the rest of my journey in deep thought.

Coming back through that area the next day, I found out what had happened on the local radio station. A car had a tire go flat as it travelled down the road. The young man driving the car pulled off the side of the road and called home to ask his father for help. As most fathers would, this man went to help his son.

As the father worked to get the tire off his son's car, his hands slipped off of the tire iron, and he fell back into the roadway. At that very moment, a car crossed the line and hit him, killing him instantly.

How many lives were changed at that second? A father, husband and son would never come home again. A son, would never get to talk to his father about anything. A driver who had no idea his life would change that day, was suddenly responsible for taking the life of a man, whether he was being negligent or not. I am sure he is still haunted to this day.

Why did I feel the need to share this "Feel Good" Story? Simple. When you are driving down the highway, and you see a vehicle, pulled off to the side, please safely move into the other lane. If you can not do that, at least slow down. It is the law in most states, but besides that, I would not want any of you do have to deal with ANY of what those individuals had to deal with on that day and will deal with for the reat of their lives.