My Life Monday

I almost forgot I meant to participate in Rachelle's My Life Monday, even though I've been racking my brain to pick "My MOST Memorable Childhood Experience", so I'll pick "A Memorable Childhood Experience" and reserve the right to change my mind at anytime in the future...M'Kay?

My memory is strange. I remember things I shouldn't due to age, and I remember dreams and smells and emotions more richly than the people, places and events. It is nearly impossible for me to choose one event and call it the most memorable. Much of this, I believe, is attributable to the fact that life seemed to move in cycles. Do I pick spring, and the way the fields would flood with the spring run off, the new baby lambs and the wild iris in the fields? Do I pick Summer, with the mosquitoes that would eat you alive, the long day's spent harvesting the hay fields, and the glorius week off that was: County Fair. Or would it be Fall, just after school was back in session and I could ride my horses in the late afternoons, when it wasn't too hot, and it wasn't too cold, and for once, it wasn't windy. Or winter, when the river froze and I skated on it's bumpy surface until my muscles ached. I guess if I had to pick just ONE event and call it the most memorable, it would be the time I rescued my sister after she'd been in an accident with an ATV.

ATV's were a part of life for us on the ranch. They were used every single day, and days off were no exception. Being young and strong as I was, I was a very accomplished rider, more-so than most adults. My family attended a barbeque at the mountain cabin belonging to Dad's boss. Amoung the attendees was another set of sisters near the age of my sister and I. The other girls' father owned a four-wheeler, and we had brought two of our three wheelers. One of the young guy's dad had working for him comandeered the faster, more agile, black three wheeler, leaving me with the green slow poke. Given his general lack of good sense, I'm sure this was a mistake, but hindsight is 20/20. My sister went with the older sister of the other family, and the younger sister rode with me on my machine. With the lack of brain cells and faster machines, the young macho-guy and the older sister soon left me and my rider far behind.

Upon rounding a curve, I saw that the two machines had stopped, and the older sister was beside the machine, jumping up and down. It wasn't until we drew nearer that I began to comprehend what had happend. The machine carrying my sister had careend off the road and hit a tree head on. My sister was bleeding profusely from cuts on her face, including one that appeared to have cut her nose in half, and everyone was standing around, frozen stupidly. It was the first experience in my life that was totally and completely out of control and the adults involved had no answers. I picked up my sister, put her on my machine and took her back to the cabin, where my parents immediately rushed her to the hospital, almost an hour away. I remember washing her blood off the front of the three wheeler, and that it took a very long time to understand that adults don't always act like adults. As it was, the medical emergency that occurred at the hospital was more life threatening than her initial injuries, and she experienced minimal scarring given the initial appearance of her injuries.

So that's my memory. Not exactly the happiest one, but certainly memorable.