QUARANTINE LIFE: TODAY

 

Timing is amazing. 

The simplest decisions can put you in places you want, need, or regret to be. 

I saw a lot of good things today. I usually do each time I choose to venture out. 

I hated what I saw as I headed home.

I’d just left a funeral at Spirit of Faith Christian Center. The minister had talked about the fragility of lives, the surety of death, and the eternal nature of our being. 

A bereaved father admonished his grandchildren to know and love one another, and to the men who were fathers among them, he said, “Be there for your children”.

At about 1:10, I was sitting at the light at Naylor Road and Suitland Parkway. I noticed a group of people waiting to cross the street. All of a sudden I heard a noise, and saw a body flung up into the air like a rag doll. I covered my eyes and began to cry, I couldn’t believe what I’d seen. When I opened my eyes, the car ahead of me had moved and I saw a young man lying motionless in the street. Several people got out of their vehicles, phones in hand. Someone yelled, “A ambulance is on the way!”

People behind me in the left lane were honking their horns, but I couldn’t move. I didn’t think anyone should. I was trying to figure out what happened. How could a scene go from sunny and jovial to tragic and heart wrenching? A young woman who’d been with the victim was pacing in circles and screaming over and over, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” 

Everything stopped. I don’t know how many times I ignored the green light that gave me right of way to make a left onto Suitland Parkway. My eyes were on the young man, and the gentleman who was leaning over his body, and comforting him. 

Finally, traffic around the scene began to slowly move, and an unmarked police vehicle pulled up. Traffic on Naylor Road had to merge into the right lane, then go left. Although the striking vehicle was headed toward DC, the scene impeded drivers heading toward Maryland. When I was able to move, I noticed the shattered windshield of the striking car. 

I was among only a few cars as I headed down the parkway toward Forestville Road. The cars headed toward the scene would soon be slowed. There was no traffic in front of me. Those traveling in my direction sped past me. I looked to my left again, and Suitland Parkway, inbound, was becoming a parking lot.

I pray for the young man, those who were with him, those who stopped to help, and his family who will undoubtedly be receiving distressing news.