Hitting a Man on a Bike

It was traumatizing, but let’s admit very funny in reflection. As part of my stressful pre-departure week I ran up to campus at 9:00 am to meet with a potential candidate for our fall group in India and then run a three hour long departure meeting for the Spring Summer Group. I hadn’t slept well the night before thinking of things I needed to remember to say in the meeting.

I frantically drive up 7^th north in my car and turn on 7^th east, the worst street in town. I maneuver around students and slow busses. I whip around the parking lot and swing into a parking spot just in time to see a man on a bicycle head toward s me. I stop! I have to admit I even close my eyes and put my hands to my face! All I see the man’s face as he realizes he can’t miss my car. His bicycle rams into the side of my car and he lands on my hood and windshield!

I spent the next five minutes saying, “Are you alright?!?” over and over again. He spent those five minutes saying "I'm fine" over and over again as he winces and walks around testing out his own jostled limbs and the poor bike that took the brunt of the accident. After bugging the poor man long enough and making sure he could walk I run up to campus, late for the meeting that turned out to be cancelled last minute.

What a week! I just wish I could have captured the whole thing on tape. Funny, but at the same time not funny.

Why Memoirs of a Kansas City Waitress?

We all choose to do things with our lives. Different things. Things that make us happy. Things that never turn out quite right. Things that lead to deep relationships. Things that lead to great regret. Things we have to sacrifice for. Thoughtless things that make our lives interesting. Things that teach us those lifelong lessons we never can quite let go of.

One summer I chose to be a waitress in Kansas City. I choose to do different things with my life now, but that summer, that job—I learned a lot about myself, about people, about a part of the world I never would have learned about through my many books. It may not have been the best decision, but I’ve never regretted it. I hope to continue making choices like that—unexpected choices that make life rich and interesting. I hope I can use this forum to share my choices as well as my thoughts and experiences that go along with those choices.

I’ve hesitated for a long time in starting this blog because I tend to get too personal, uncomfortably personal. However, in the face of this 6 month excursion to India, I’ve given in and started this blog. I hope this can be a place to share with those close to me and maybe it’ll make up for the lack of those conversations we would have had in person. I doubt it, but enjoy the dialogue anyway.