Bill's 5 Years ago

While I was zonked out sleeping last night Bill wrote a "note" on facebook about his experience 5 years ago from today. September 13th has been a day that I do not look forward to because of Bill's accident 5 years ago. He was hit by a semi, which was going 85 miles per hour. He is usually quiet for a few days and has nightmares that wake me up during the night.
It was a huge wake up call for both of us and a very tragic day for semi-driver and his family.
I had had a rough summer that year, not getting hired at CC, a miscarriage, my uncle passing, and my grandpa passing on all in about four months. It was definitely not a fun time. I guess I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and taking it out on everyone around me. It was also my first year as the head volleyball coach at CC. Luckily Shelly Sinner was pregnant and I would do her long-term subsitute position to keep my occupied. The VB season turned out pretty well, we ended up 5th in the State so that was nice. When September came around I thought maybe things were starting to turn around but I was still bitter and angry. I forgot how blessed I was and what an amazing husband I had. I forgot that we were partners and could get through anything with each other and God.
Here is the "note" Bill posted...it pretty much says it all with his closing thoughts.

I've been sitting here thinking about writing this for a while now and I finally decided it was time.

Have you ever woken up and thought there was something off about a day? I don't mean you got up on the wrong side of the bed or decided to wear two different shoes. I mean it really just didn't feel right. I have. September 13, 2004, I woke up from getting about 3 hours of sleep after working 24 hours straight painting a street down in Alexandria MN. I went in to work at 8 am and found out I was going to Sisseton South Dakota. I ran home and packed a bag. Dana was in school and I didn't think it was going to be worth the fight to call her and let her know I was going to be gone for a week again, so, I left. We got down there around 11 or 12 in the morning and I got the dubious honor of driving what we called the crash truck. For the most part a crash truck only has two responsibilities, carry the extra material needed for running all day and protect the crew in front of it. All crash trucks are equipped with one special tool that helps with the second responsibility, the crash pad, which is supposed to absorb the impact of a collision and keep every body alive.

One thing most people need to understand about me, I very seldomly ever wore my seat belt back in the day. Why should I need to, I was young and invincible (not to mention a little bit stupid on occasion) but for some reason that day I decided that little voice in the back of my head was making a whole lot of sense when it said to put my belt on. If I hadn't listened to it I don't know if I would be here to type this.

Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon I was sitting on top of a hill about a mile south of the Sisseton interchange waiting for the guys in front of me to get to the bottom of the hill so I could bomb all the way down. About another half hour or so and we could get turned around and start on the ramps and other odds and ends to finish our job. I checked my mirrors to see if there were any more cars coming and happened to see a white Kenworth T-2000 switch lanes about a quarter mile behind me. I'm sitting there thinking you damned idiot get back over and don't hit me. After a couple seconds, realization dawned, this guy is going to f___ing hit me! From that point its a bit of a blur for a few seconds. I know I braced for impact and floored the truck (a Kenworth T-300 midsize) and waited for the bang. Honestly I don't remember hearing anything, there was a short lived feeling of weightlessness and I remember seeing green grass flash by. When everything stopped I remembered to start breathing again after getting the wind knocked out of me (which is kind of a good thing) and started to assess the situation. I was facing south (should have been north) and was tilted upwards. I tried the door and it opened, and then slammed shut in my face (damn gravity). I got the door open enough and climbed out, only to fall promptly on my face. I came to find out both fuel tanks had been knocked off the truck and therefore my steps down to the ground as well. I got to my feet and looked up to see one of the guys on our crew staring at me like I was growing horns. I told him to get the truck turned around and get traffic slowed down so we didn't have any more accidents. I didn't realize traffic had already been stopped on both sides of the interstate. Then, not realizing the gravity of the situation I asked if any body had a lighter being that I couldn't find mine. I started looking around and realized just what had happened. My truck was laying in the bottom of the median and had been turned about 190 degrees from where I started in the driving lane, the flatbed was laying next to the truck, and the rear axle ended up about 100 yards or so down the road and almost ended up hitting cars on the south bound side of the highway. The crash pad ended up underneath the truck that hit me and the back of the frame of mine went through that thing like a sardine can. There was basically nothing left of the cab other than part of the sleeper. There was a group of people gathered by the back of the guys trailer and some one was yelling, trying to figure out if anyone else had been in the cab. I walked back there to see how bad the other guy was hurt. It was at about that point I realized the other guy didn't make it, he was dead. We were trying to figure out the best way to procede when we realized the guys semi had started on fire and the tires were exploding sending chunks of flaming rubber past our heads. We figured the best thing to do would be to drag his body off the highway and out of harms way. That is definitely one thing I will never forget, the look on his face, the blood, and the feeling of helplessness.

After the emergency responders showed up and got the situation under control I was taken to the county jail to get a blood sample and then went back out to the accident scene to grab a couple things that got left in the truck. I talked to the state patrol officer and they figured the guy was going somewhere between 80 and 85 mph when he hit me. I was at a dead standstill. My truck was basically airborne for about 50 to 100 feet ( I can't remember exactly). They didn't know if he had a heart attack, fell asleep, or just wasn't paying attention. To this day I still don't know what happened.

Most people would have been done with that career choice right then and there. Not me. One week later I went back to work and got back into the swing of things. Not because I particularly wanted to go back, but mainly because I had to prove to myself that I could. That I had the stones to go back out there and face my fear of getting hit again. I spent another two years painting highways after that, with more than a few times sitting in a crash truck.

I'm not writing this to get attention or make any one feel sorry for me. I know there are many other people out there that have gone through much more challenging ordeals than I have. I'm writing this because it has been five years since it happened and I felt I needed to do something in honor of it. Since that day I have changed a lot of things in my life. It took a while but I finally went back to school to get my B.S. in Ag systems Management and I plan on graduating next spring. I now work full time for Titan Machinery in Casselton and really enjoy my job. The biggest thing that has changed though is the way I look at life. My thinking is that if I wake up breathing in the morning, its going to be a good day. No matter what happens I've got people that care about me, a crazy dog that keeps life interesting, and a wife that I love more than anything or anyone else in this world. I guess what I'm trying to do here is to help everyone remember there are some things in life that are more important than others. That everyday is a gift. If you have something you have always wanted to try, try it, tell your wife, husband, kids, parents, or whoever that you love them and do something to show them how much you care (something I still need to work on occassionally). Spend time with your family and friends, have fun, make memories. Live your life with no regrets, it isn't often you get a second chance at it.

Oh, one last thing, don't tell me you feel like you've been hit by a truck unless you have been, you don't, trust me;)

Rest in peace David R. Rook.