He took it out for one last ride.  The guy he sold it to was coming to pick it up so he wanted to take it out for one last ride to make sure it was running well and I imagine, to say goodbye to the bike.  He had two young daughters and it was time to give it up.  My sister waited for him at my parents house with the girls.  They were excited because when Daddy got home they were going to the fair.

Forty-five minutes later he wasn't back.  He wasn't answering his phone.  When my dad got home he and my sister went out looking for him.  She got a call while they were on their way.  There had been an accident.  As they pulled up on the scene the ambulance was pulling away.

He had laid down the bike.  Slammed into a rock wall.  He hit the wall so hard his glove flew off.  Thank God he was wearing a helmet.  He destroyed his knee.  He was nearly unrecognizable under the road rash.  When I took my oldest niece to see him in the hospital she wouldn't go near him.  I didn't even see him the first day he was in the hospital.

Personally I think someone hit him.  He can't even remember what happened.  It was a windy road that kids speed down all the time.  I think they ran him off the road and kept on going.  Somebody called the ambulance and when they got there he was laying in the middle of the road and there was no one around.  So who called the ambulance?  And why the heck didn't they stop?  We will never get those answers, but I wish we could.

This started a four year long journey for my sister and her family.  A journey they are still working through.  My brother in law is fully recovered now but it took him multiple surgeries and a year long recovery process.  I thank God everyday that it wasn't worse.  That he did have that helmet on.  That who ever called the ambulance DID call, whatever their motivation.

When I got engaged I started searching for the perfect music.  Music is so important to me I knew I had to find just the right song to say what I wanted said.  It couldn't be just any sappy love song.  It had say what I felt.  It had to be true to us.  It had to be a song that I could listen to 50 years later and still bring back the emotions that I felt.

Darling you have set me free

Always give you what you need

and what you deserve

All the joy and all this love

I know that it is from above

And now together there's enough to fill this world

'Cause you are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

And now we're man and wife

When I met my hubby he wasn't supposed to be the one.  He was supposed to be the one that helped me feel better.  He was a nice guy that my mom introduced me to.  He was safe.  It took me six months to fall in love.    And in that six months what I came to realize was that he was everything I needed, nothing I expected.  Yes, he was safe.  Because he was solid.  Yes, sometimes predictable.  Because you could count on him.  He was the rock I was looking for.

And now i'm standing next to you

And darling I will see you through the rest of our lives

With you beside me I have won

I'm glad i've waited for so long

There is no doubt that you are the one

for me

You are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

When I first heard "We Are Man & Wife" by Michelle Featherstone I wept.  I wept because it felt like she pulled the words straight from my brain and put them to music.  I wept because I HAD waited for so long.  Waited for the person that would stick.  Someone I could count on to always try to not let me down (let's face it we all fail the one's we love sometimes).  I needed someone who would see through the facade to the real stuff inside.  This song for me said everything I wanted, needed to say to my hubby in a way I couldn't convey.

There'll be things(we will bring)

Everything is going to be fine

Now you're in my life

So I give you heart and soul

It's yours to take wherever you go

Through the years you'll always know it's yours to keep

God has blessed this sacred vow

Angels line above and look down

See the two of us, we found the perfect love

You are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

Yeah, you are the love of my life

Now we're man and wife

I don't believe in love at first sight.  I don't believe in one person that is your end all, be all.  What I do believe in (thank you Mom and Dad for modeling this) is happily ever after with your best friend.  I believe in being with someone who chooses you everyday and you choose them.  I believe in someone who will fight with you, stand with you and hold you up if you need that.  I married that.