Thursday, September 18, 2008

BIKING IN OLD SAN JUAN -- A JOY?

Milton, here for Kristy:

On a past visit to see Jennifer I borrowed Javier's bike to see  Puerto Rico and enjoy some fresh air. (The pictures included are from our bike ride today.)

It was raining in Old San Juan and I was bicycling alone through the cobbled stone streets enjoying a very scenic and historic ride. I didn't know the area very well and was riding on rain soaked roads to get back to Jennifer's condo.

I was cruisin' and then it happened.

Suddenly I was flying through the air and this was no airplane or trapeze and there was no soft places to land. I had hit the slicker than glass tiled sidewalks around a city park doing way too fast and not knowing my fate.

Bam! Bam! Bam! And more Bam! 

As my body tore into the wet tile. I am dying. I am going to heaven in a heap on a slick Peurto Rican tiled sidewalk! 

I landed in a mud puddle and my body was racked with pain. How many bones are broken I wondered? I checked by arms, my legs, my ribs, my hands and everyplace was hurting, but eventually I was able to stand again. 

Finally I recovered enough to start walking the bike toward Jennifer's condo which was a number of miles away. Then I rode and traveled another mile and it dawned on me that I had lost a very expensive pair of sun glasses my daughters had given me for Christmas.

I turned around and started flying back to see if they were still at the site of my big crash. Faster I peddled as I approached the other side of the park from where the accident occurred. Maybe I can find them. Maybe there still there. The girls warned my not to lose them for they said they had paid a lot for them.

Then it happened. 

It happened again! 

I can't believe it. I was flying through the air the second time. Still no trapeze with a net, or airplane or soft spot to land.

I was flying through the air sideways, and fast, very fast. Yet, it was happening in slow motion and I knew what is about to happen. It ain't gonna be pretty.


Bam! Bam! Bam! And more Bams! 

I was dying for the second time in less than 30 minutes. My obituary will read something about a stupid preacher wrecking his bike twice within minutes and not surviving the second crash.

Bam! Bam! 

Blood, Black, Blue

Those aren't nice colors for legs and arms, and ribs, or my backside. 

Bam! Bam!

How can an educated man do this twice within minutes?
Man, was I hurting. I lay there again feeling my arms, legs, head, ribs, ankles, pulse, heart, brain--no brain alive here! 

My brain must have been dead. It had to be dead. Surely I am smarter than this?

Thankfully there were no broken bones. 

People in passing buses were watching, smiling, grimacing. No one offered help.

I got up the second time and limped toward the condo again. 

Oh, I found the glasses. It wasn't worth it!

I visited a Catholic Church in Old San Juan on our bike ride. Kristy and I made frequent visits there too. We loved looking at beautiful old churches all over the world.

***

Did you ever eat Japanese in Sunny San Juan?
We did Wednesday night,  and the steak and Susi was super. The cook or whatever they call them fired up the grill and made flames and smoke and threw knifes and cooking utensils all around. 

Eggs were being tossed up and down and dark rice was getting darker
and veggies were heating up and the kiddies were banging the gong and we were all laughing and having a great time.

Spanish was the language of the table and I nodded and smiled and acted like I had a "little" idea of what was happening.


 When Kristy and I have visited here almost every year for the ten years, we have gotten with Javier's family for a meal. His mother, Lortis, and stepfather, Miguel, have made us feel welcome and special. It has been nice.

We missed Kristy. I showed them her blog and pictures of her on my new Iphone. 

I miss that gal. 

Oh, I miss that gal.

8 Comments:

At 9:27 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought my "older" brother was smarter than that!!!!

Norma

P.S.-So glad you are still alive--but you probably aren't kicking very high today!!

 
At 12:03 PM, Blogger Just Me said...

LOL! This made me smile today, Milton! Omigosh - I could FEEL those bruises coming on!

I'm so glad you're, uh - having a good time in P.R. LOL!

Still praying for you brother!

 
At 1:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks to your confession, Milton, I'm going to have to apologize to my twenty-something year old daughter. Last month she told me she fell TWICE in the same day, two different episodes that left her bruised and scarred. I said,"NOBODY falls twice in the same day! What's wrong with you?" Well, now, I find somebody double her age her took TWO nasty spills on the same day! A pastor, to boot! LOL But it's sure good to see that you still managed to have an appetite. Is that Benihana food? YUM! I just love their food!

Love & Prayers,
Nancy

 
At 1:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Milton...
Sorry to say...all I could do was laugh...a very hearty laugh...at You! Hee hee hee hee hee hee
...and Steve missed it! He'd just left to go to the church...I'll have to catch him up on 'his friend's spanish-flying thru the air experience! Still can't stop laughing...brother! Sorry!

Guess you will have to not be so explicit...if you want us to totally sympathize with Ya!

Glad your having 'a sliding' good time with your family and friends...God Bless Ya...
Maybe He'll even speak to Jennifer to "kiss your bobo knees" so they can heal...she was taught by Kristy to do that ...I am sure!

Have more FUN...K?
Prayers...
Darlene

 
At 1:54 PM, Blogger Karen Eve said...

I'm certain that you have the memories with you today. I'm glad you found the glasses after you made the second trip (or should I say flight?) I'm glad that Jennifer has such supportive in-laws down there. Try to enjoy the rest of your visit and remember, you're getting too old for stunt riding!
Blessings

 
At 3:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lisa and I too, Milton.

Lisa and I were discussing your blog. We read every day.

We both laughed. So sorry............we were laughing with you and thanking God you were not hurt in your two tumbles on your bike.

Just kidding, but since the cobbled stone streets in Puerto Rico are so slippery, why not get an adult 3 wheel adult tricycle?

We think you your family always, such an inspiration to us. We pray for you always.

 
At 4:24 PM, Blogger B. J. Robinson said...

Glad you didn't break anything :)
Barb

 
At 11:08 PM, Blogger Margo Carmichael said...

I am laughing so hard! God is going to have to do a work on my twisted sense of humor! Glad you're okay, now, Milton.

All right, true confession time. At age seven, I went bike-riding down Munson Hill in Falls Church, Virginia near D.C. I loved that hill. We rode sleds down it in the winter, where we lived along a creek nearby, and used to climb another side of the hill to see fireworks at the Capitol and Washington Monument, way off in the distance. It was wooded, and we were not allowed in there alone, but I was there with a few kids, coasting fast down a newly cut dirt road.

My wheel hit a rock, and the handlebar twisted--that word again--and hit and broke my collarbone.

In those days, they put you in a plaster vest-type cast that weighed a ton. When they finally cut it off of me, I grabbed hold of Mom. I thought I was floating away. The doctor said adults coming out of body casts sometimes fainted with the sudden lack of weight.

Lack of weight not obtained by abstaining from Twinkies, I might add.

Anyway, the boy next door rode my bike home for me as I whimpered along.

He later grew up and was quarterback or something for Notre Dame.

Once, as I walked home from school past his house, he ambushed me, reaching out his dad's car window
and smacking me on the nose with a rubber "Indian" tomahawk.

I think Notre Dame won a lot of games when he got there.

Thanks for the memory--I think. LOL I think I'll have a Twinkie.

 

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