I need your stories from the road

Coffee for the less fortunate

This story will warm you better than a coffee in a cold winter day !

We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we're aproaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter :
'Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three 'suspended'
They pay for their order, take the two and leave. I ask my friend:
'What are those 'suspended' coffees ?'
'Wait for it and you will see'
Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers - three for them and four 'suspended'. While I still wonder what's the deal with those 'suspended' coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square infront of the café. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in throught the door and kindly asks
'Do you have a suspended coffee ?'


It's simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm bevarage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwitch or a whole meal.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have such cafés or even grocery stores in every town where the less fortunate will find hope and support ?
If you own a business why don't you offer it to your clients...I am sure many of them will like it

 

That brought tears to my eyes, Oscar. Thank you for sharing that story!!

 

I'm not the first...nor will I be the last...Suicide by Big Rig!

It's sad when you look back on it, especially once you get some "background" of the individual involved and the circumstances that led to the event.

It was Friday night, on a heavily traveled 4 lane highway in Southern California. One of the few highways that does not have any kind of barrier between the opposing direction lanes. Me, a big rig loaded with dog and cat food, gross weight 79,850 pounds. She, a relatively new Volkswagen Beetle...not a lot to that little car when compared to 80,000 lbs going the opposite direction. Getting moving from the controlled intersection, and slightly uphill, at impact I had accelerated to 31 mph, her speedometer was showing approximately 77 mph. As the other cars (going in her direction) opened up enough space for her to steer to her left, she seemed to rocket out of a pack of cars, came across the median, and aimed directly at my front end. I had some room to try and move to the right, but the sidewalk and curb took any extra maneuvering from me. I got as far right as I could and she maintained her aim, even when I attempted to hard turn left to give her room to pass in front...she turned directly into me. There was nothing else I could have done...hard braking would put the car quickly approaching into my DOT bumper. Luckily, that driver reacted correctly and avoided the collision...however, he was the first to approach her mangled vehicle. She caught me, center right, her momentum curled her around the rest of the tractor and clipping the rear drive, then got caught under the edge of the trailer.

As a former Firefighter/Medic, I approached her vehicle, and found her in "agonal respiration", extremely weak pulse, and dilated eyes. There was nothing I could do to help her, or ease her pain. A second "witness" was a bit panicked, but was capable of being put to use as a "traffic guide". Using my triangles, we quickly established a separation of the accident with room enough to allow traffic to flow, one lane, both directions. It seemed a long wait, but within minutes, PD and Fire were on the scene. It took 35 minutes to get the lady extricated from the vehicle....and, by that time, she had expired, and was "pronounced" at the scene.

This poor soul had been going through some hard personal times...fights with her boyfreind, with her family, drinking....and documented suicide attempts in the recent past. This time...she succeeded....May She Rest In Peace.

My solace with this event? At first I fell back on my years with the Fire Department and my time as a Funeral Director/Mortician. In both fields, one learns to "compartmentalize" the problems and circumstances that takes others to such drastic measures. The main point for my personal conviction of this incident....I'm glad it was me and my well built big rig! On a Friday night, it easily could have been a van of people coming home from a softball game, a family headed home from an evening of recreation...or just some other car that would easily have been equally mangled as hers....

I am sure, God put me there at that time for a reason.....if to take her home without taking anyone else, or hurting anyone else.

Folks...if you are having personal issues, or know someone that is going through personal tradgedies....take the time to seek help or to offer help.

Otter

 

On September 4, 2007 in Palm Beach, FL my 19 year old female cousin, her 17 year old brother, and her 10 year old sister were leaving a local restaurant that they frequented twice a month for a "sibling night out". My 19 yr old cousin was driving the Ford Ranger truck with her sister in the middle seat and her brother in the passenger seat. They were heading back home when they stopped for a red light on a busy intersection. When the light turned green, she paused briefly as someone in a car had ran the light and she then proceeded to cross the intersection. She only made it across the 1st lane of 4 when a full sized tanker tractor trailer plowed into her broad side (driver's side). The impact was so great, the tanker pushed her truck down the road about 250 ft before it rolled several times, finally resting on its passenger side up against a telephone pole.

While the authorities and paramedics were working the scene, our uncle (their father's brother) was on his way to work and passed by the accident. He didn't think too much of it, and hoped that whomever was involved would be okay. He arrived at work when he was met by his supervisor and the operations manager in the parking lot. They told our uncle that one of their drivers was involved in a possibly fatal traffic accident and they needed for our uncle to come inside immediately. They informed our uncle that the vehicle that was hit was his brother's truck and that the 3 passengers in it were his brother's children.

My 19 yr old cousin died upon impact - she was crushed. Her 17 yr old brother was ejected through the passenger side window (not wearing a seatbelt) and into a street sign. He sustained a broken leg and arm and multiple bruises and cuts, but survived. Her 10 yr old sister was trapped in the truck (she was wearing a seatbelt) and sustained life-threatening injuries, but survived. Both of her legs and pelvis were shattered, both her arms were broken and she broke 3 vertebra.

Our uncle's co-worker was later tried and convicted of vehicular manslaughter (he was high at the time of the accident) and sentenced to prison. Our uncle left the trucking company the next day. On a side note, my 19 yr old cousin was a twin. Her and her twin sister were born 14 weeks early on Christmas morning in 1987. Unfortunately, her twin died 2 months after they were born.

My cousins' father almost lost the rest of his children that night. It's been almost 6 years since that accident, but the family is still reeling over her death. She was an up and coming college student working at a local bank and working her way up in the banking industry. She was a straight A student, a local model, star athlete and just an all around great young lady. She is sadly missed.

 

WV, that's so sad....wow...I don't know what to say