Two-wheeled angels... Four-wheeled Devil

An e-mail sent to my folks, describing the events of the day.

"Lynn took Maddy to the dentist in Puerto Plata, and discovered that one of her molars was badly infected, so it had to be pulled. I was filming at the dump with Shaniah, so she called me there with the update. We left the dump on the motorcycle around 4:30 and headed for home. Just past the Coastal gas station, Shaniah's hat blew off. Someone behind us had stopped to pick it up, so we did a U-turn and went back to meet him. I pulled over on the shoulder opposite, and was waiting for him to cross the road, when a pickup truck drifted onto the shoulder and hit us. Glanced off us, actually, but hit Shaniah's left foot, my lower leg and smashed the mirror off my bike. He didn't even slow down. Maybe he saw that the bike was still upright and figured we were OK. Shaniah was screaming in pain, I was lightheaded and nauseous, and the dominican guy was still holding Shaniah's hat, not sure what to do.

My head cleared enough to drive back to Dr.Bob's clinic, just a kilometer or so back. He put Shaniah's foot in icewater and gave her a tylenol, which helped. I called Lynn, who was on her way back from the dentist (a story on it's own - took three shots of novocain to pull one of her tricuspid molars!). She stopped at the clinic, we left Maddy with her friend Rosie, and headed back to the private hospital at Puerto Plata. They x-rayed her ankle and discovered she had a point fracture on her foot, so they cleaned her up and applied a cast to just below her knee, which she'll have on for at least a month.

There are a few blessings in all of this. First, we are both alive and home safely. Second (and really the first one is the only one that matters), it only cost $5700 pesos for everything - xray, cast, medicine, tetanus shot. That's less than $300.

So that's all the news I feel like sharing for now. My calf and ankle need some ice and tylenol, and my minor abrasions need some cleaning.

Have you ever wondered if those "Lord, keep them safe" prayers work? They do."

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