Watch this Dad

Watch this.

I would like to share with others about my “watch this” experience.  My son, David, was twelve years old and enjoyed skateboarding.  It was the Christmas of 88 that Gordy, David and I were visiting my mother who lived on the Althomal River near the town of Baxley. When my mother lived was all dirt roads and no hard surfaces to go out and skateboard.  There was one paved surface, and that was the road down to the boat ramp on the river.  The paved road started at the top of the bluff and went down to the boat ramp, a drop of 300 feet in a quarter mile.  That would put the slope of the road at about 17%.  After many hours of David complaining of nothing to do, I agreed to take him to the boat ramp.  Gordy decline to watch and remain in the kitchen helping with Christmas dinner.

We stopped at the top of the paved surface and looked down this paved road as if it was a sky jump.  I told David it was too steep and unsafe to skate down.  In those days there were no helmets, knee pads or elbow pads.  Maybe the safety equipment was available, but no one used them. David insisted that he could manage the slope and wanted to try.  I stood back and said OK ready to “What this”.  Now let me explain that in 88 we were living in Margate Florida that is about as flat as you can find.  There were no hills, no slopes and no skate parks that would have provided David a little experience in skating down 17% incline.  But that never stopped anyone from trying something new, something never done before.

He placed the skateboard on the asphalt, put one foot on it, turned to me and smiled as if to say, “Watch this.” The other foot pushed off and gently he was traveling down the slope.  At first, the speed was manageable, but within a short distance his speed was what one could say was fast.  At this point, he was in the middle of the road seems to be under control.  At this point, he was halfway down the incline going maybe 10 mph or 15 mph something started to go wrong.  The skateboard began to wobble side to side, and his track began to drift right.  He corrected but too much and went to the left.  Again, he corrected and brought the skateboard to the center then overcorrected to the right.  It was that this time at the top of the hill I knew something was going to happen.  It did happen, and it was in slow motion.  David attempted to slow down by putting his weight on the back of the board, raising the front up.  With only back wheels on the pavement, the control skateboard was reduced as if he had any control going 15 mph on a piece of wood fastened to skate wheels. At this point, he attempted to step off the board, which he did but physics took over.  His body was going 15 mph when his foot touched the pavement he body was stopped at 0 mph. The top half of his body kept going downhill forcing him to fall forward on elbows, chest, and legs.  Next to his body went sideways and now he was rolling over and over.

I got in the car, raced down the hill and reached him about the time his forward motion had stopped.  At first, he did not say anything, his breath was knocked out, and he was gulping for air.  Not wanting to scare him as to his condition I mentioned that that was a great ride and that he did well until that squirrel ran in front of him.  He said catching his breath, what squirrel?   I think he realized I was trying to distract him.  He looked at each arm and from the wrist to the elbow there was road rash.  He sat up and looked at his legs, both had road rash from the knee down the shin.  While his chest took the dominant force in the fall, it seemed ok.  He got up on his own two legs, got in the car and we headed back to his grandmother’s house.  It was only a few minutes, but the road rash started to be very wet and red.  By the time we enter the room, it looked like David had tangled with a bear.  That would have been a better story than skateboarding down the boat ramp and would have kept me out of trouble with Gordy.

I put David in the bathtub, clothes and all.  As the warm water touch the area of road rash, the water turned red.  His shirt and pants were removed showing some addition bruising Gently we washed the grime and grit out of the wounds.  The bleeding seemed to have stopped but by this time the reality had hit him and so did the pain.  In a few minutes, he wounds were clean and exit the bathtub.  He complained that his elbow hurt and not it was time to drive to the emergency room.  >That trip from the river to Baxley hospital was about 20 minutes.

The emergency room paperwork had to be filled out first then waited a few moments   to see the doctor.  The doctor looked at David and said what happen to you, tangle with a bear.  David laughed a little felt paid and said no skateboarding. After an examination and an x-ray, it was determined there was nothing broken.  This was welcome news and hoped it would keep me from being in the doghouse.

That Christmas was one that was remembered for a long time with David sitting at the table, wrapped in bandages and with me taking the blame for, “Watch This”.