thank you to the nice man driving the souped-up, black, dodge ram pickup south on woodruff in idaho falls at approximately 8pm, saturday, june 2, 2007

Last night Kaleb’s life flashed before my eyes. We were on a family bike ride. I was on my granny bike, pulling Leah and Zack in a bike trailer, Rich was on his new mountain bike, and Kaleb was just a little wobbly on his $15 yard sale bike. We tried taking the back roads on an ambitious jaunt to Uncle Bill’s, over a mile away from our house. We were nearly there when we decided to cut through a grocery store parking lot before hitting Woodruff, an extremely busy street just blocks from Uncle Bill’s house. Rich led our sad little bicycle parade out the parking lot. Kaleb was between us; I was the caboose. What I realized, just a millisecond too late, was that the parking lot exit had a slight incline. Kaleb was going too fast and wasn’t making the turn to the sidewalk or using his brakes to slow down. He was heading straight into busy, oncoming traffic, and all I could see was this monstrous black pickup coming right for him. I screamed -- a classic, horror movie scream that ended in a loud expletive. Kaleb finally stopped about two feet onto Woodruff. So did the black pickup.

Funny thing is I had just read a post at White Trash Mom where a man driving another black vehicle had just missed hitting her daughter because he was speeding while talking on his cell phone and drinking coffee. Thank God (no, that’s not in vain) that wasn’t the same man driving the Dodge Ram pickup who stopped before hitting Kaleb. It wouldn’t have been his fault if he hadn’t stopped, but at that moment he was paying attention, driving defensively and watching that parking lot exit. I’m sorry if all he heard was me swearing because the entire ride home I was sloppy with gratitude for a complete stranger who was an observant, cautious driver. Where ever you are, thank you! It makes me wonder how my daily choices may affect the welfare of those around me. Should I be that careful the next time it’s my turn to make a mommy swear. Er,weep with gratitude, I mean.