Give Us the Dirt (4)

(If you haven’t read the first part of this series, please go back to the beginning so everything makes more sense. Links here: Give Us the Dirt! , Give Us the Dirt! (2) , & Give Us the Dirt (3))

Growing up in a small town, everyone really did know everyone. That sounds so cliche’ even typing, but it’s true. We saw people we knew everywhere we went. Going to the local Walmart felt like a reunion every time because we were bound to run into someone we knew.

So it was no surprise when I violently wrecked my F-350 during a drunk driving accident that everyone in the town new about it within a day or two. (And these were the days before social media!) 

I still don’t remember everything clearly, that’s what will happen when you chug Bud Ice nonstop and smoke a bunch of weed, but I do know that my poor decisions afforded me a few days in a hospital bed with a fractured vertebrae, cuts and bruises everywhere, and enough shame to last a lifetime.

The truck was completely totaled, but thankfully that humongous hunk of metal saved my life. If I had been in a smaller car that wouldn’t have thrown me straight out of the front windshield, I may not be here typing today.

This was in January 2004, right after I had turned 17.

The scenes before, leading up to, and after this moment in my life still haunt me to this day. I don’t share this to say, “Hey, look at how much of a screw up I am! And I’m still living!” I share this because we all do stuff shit. I bet you have better stories and some that are even more painful to talk about. But this was a major turning point in my life and also a time when my naive attitude shifted from invincibility to completely mortal.

To Be Continued…