The City Bus

January 22, 2018

In 2009, the National debate tournament was in Birmingham, Alabama. I was still dependent on actual hold-in-your-hand maps. It was the Stone Age.

Downtown Birmingham is one intersection after the next. The first morning of the tournament, I was driving three of my kids and three students from other schools to the tournament. As I looked down at the map, I came upon a red light. Matt Price, riding shotgun, screamed "red light!" I slammed on the brakes and avoided being t-boned by a city bus. But we hit the bus.

It was a nightmare.

The minivan was totaled. The air bags deployed. We spun. And my life changed forever.

Thomas, whose parents are both doctors, was in the second set of seats. He immediately looked at me and said "EMTs are on the way." All the kids in the back seats were fine. Other coaches were on their way to the tournament and stopped and picked them up and took them on. 

I watched people being taken off the city bus on gurneys and I nearly self-destructed. I knew I would be sued. And I was.

Matt had been hit by the rear view mirror and was bleeding. We went to the hospital while I did all I could to not die of a full on meltdown.

But here is the thing: I have parents and (at the time) administrators and friends who kept me alive. I will never forget that they saved me during that time. However, it made me gun shy. It was the beginning of my end as a coach. Suddenly, I realized the risks involved in traveling with students. I had loved it. And it became fearful for me. It became something that hurt. I was riddled with guilt.

The kids in that van and their parents were more than forgiving and gracious. But I am still not sure I've forgiven myself. It was a moment in time. And it could have killed us all.

Life is composed of moments in time: some awesome, some horrific. This one was a wreck, literally and figuratively. I've crawled back from it. But it has been a slow crawl.

I've made a lot of jokes about the city bus. But it changed me. It scared me. And I never want to go back to Birmingham.