Personal+narrative

When I was 8 years old, back in the summer of 2002 when my family and I went on vacation to see my Papa Andy and Grandma Donna in Wausau, Wisconsin. It was definitely a summer to remember.
 * The 4 Wheeler accident that changed my life **

It was about 1:00PM one day when were there, and my Papa Andy had a surprise for me. My Papa Andy bought a 4 wheeler about a week before we visited and he wanted to try it out for the first time. He said,” Hey Tim, want to go for a ride with me?” I said “ I’d love to”. His 4 wheeler was a brand new Polaris 4x4 that was a shiny forest green. The first time I heard it start, I was amazed. It was so quiet. I thought, because it was so big and looked so tough it would roar. I loved how quiet it was. My Papa named it “Brutus”.

After my Papa let Brutus warm up, we were off into the woods in 4 hi. (4 wheel drive) I was having the time of my life. The feel of the cool wind on my face, the smell of fresh pine trees, and the sound of sticks being run over was like the sound of a fire crackling. I never thought this beautiful day, would have turned out so bad. My Papa and I were heading back to his house, which was about 5 miles away when everything started to go wrong. We were heading down a path that looked like it used to be part of a forest, but there were no trees. My Papa decided to turn the 4 wheel drive off and cruise at 25 mph. We were coming around a bend and there was a pile of leaves in the middle of the path. My Papa Andy didn’t notice anything so we just drove over them. That’s when the 4 wheeler flipped over. Under the leaves were 4 stumps. They were probably 6 inches apart. The first one we hit, forced the left front tire off the ground, and when we hit the other three, the other three tires came of the ground. I closed my eyes when I knew what was going to happen, and when I opened them, it wasn’t a pretty picture. My Papa Andy was lying on the ground just getting up, and the 4 wheeler was smoking upside down with my left leg caught underneath it. I didn’t break anything, but I had a bruised leg and a big scratch on my forehead from hitting the edge of one of the stumps. My Papa Andy was just fine. He told me he jumped off of Brutus before he flipped; I was the unlucky one who didn’t. I never wanted to get back on a 4 wheeler again.

So a few days passed after that accident, and my Papa Andy decided the best way to get me to get back on Brutus, was to teach me how to drive him. I said,”no way”. My Dad even tried to persuade me to get back on Brutus. Two days after they tried to persuade me to get back on Brutus, I gave in. I am very glad to say I never flipped it over or got into an accident. I kind of went with the flow and drove it responsibly and went as fast as I was comfortable to go. I got it up to 20 mph. before we came back to Virginia. I absolutely loved it! The sound of the engine roared with pride and the wind blew my hair around so smoothly. My Papa lets me take Brutus out every time my family and I come to visit them, with no hesitation. Sometimes he tells me I don’t even have to ask. Just go, enjoy yourself.

So, the lessons I learned 7 years ago, was when you fall off, don’t let fear keep you off. The other lesson I learned was never let fear get in your way.