It Can Happen to You
Riding Again by Stacey “ Snoopy ” Conly by Ginger Williams
March 14 , 2015 will be embedded in my mind for the rest of my life . I would love to forget and pretend it never happened , but I can ’ t forget and won ’ t let it happen . My job in the biker world is to protect the back doors of friends , and believe me , I am extremely protective . A few of them , but especially my friend Ginger , have told me they always feel much safer when I ’ m behind them . I have ridden behind Ginger multiple times , including all over the state of Louisiana behind Ginger and her husband , John . Saturday , March 14 , 2015 is a day that has impacted both of our lives . I drove to Ginger ’ s the night before to have some girl time and catch up as we hadn ’ t had much time together in the last several months since she and John lived in Donaldsonville , but she was living back in the CenLa area putting her a lot closer to me . We had so much fun the night of Friday the 13th .. John was down south working so it was just the two of us . According to an app on Facebook , Ginger was supposed to die March 12th ; we had a good laugh about that . Two sisters who hadn ’ t been able to see each other in a while having a blast is the best way to describe the night . Arriving back at her house , we visited more before we finally went to bed . We had the A . B . A . T . E . of Louisiana , Inc State Board meeting Saturday Morning ; I had finally talked her into going to a state meeting with me . We got up the next morning still laughing , drinking coffee , and being silly before we started getting ready . Ginger was excited to be riding her bike , a beautiful Sportster 883 she hadn ’ t been able to ride in a while due to all of the heavy rains we had been having and the 14th was a beautiful day . continued on page 30
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I ’ m sitting in my office , looking out the window at my bike . Today marks seven months since my accident and it has been a roller coaster of emotions . I ’ ve had to deal with fear , insecurity , anger and self-doubt . For the first time in my life , I wasn ’ t sure I ’ d ride again . I wasn ’ t sure if I even wanted to . It ’ s funny , the accident was the easiest part to deal with . The pain , while intense , was manageable . My focus was on answering questions , giving contact numbers , checking on my friend , etc . It didn ’ t take long before I was in an ambulance , had pain meds administered , and on my way to the hospital . I was even lucky enough to have a biker working on me in the ambulance and a biker nurse taking care of me in the hospital . Talk about feeling special ! For me , the real pain began during the weeks and month after the accident . I relived the accident on a daily basis trying to figure out what I did wrong . Could I have done something to avoid this ? Could I have done something different ? I thought if I figured that out , I ’ d feel better . You know , live and learn . It didn ’ t quite work that way . Once I reached the decision that I hadn ’ t made a mistake , that I ’ d done what I was supposed to do and that I ’ d made every effort to remain safe , I felt worse . I ’ m a bit of a control freak . I like to think that I decide what I do and what happens to me . Because of the accident , I had to face the fact that I can ’ t control everything . And that scared the hell out of me . I realized that despite anything I might do , riding my bike is dangerous because … well , shit happens . When I took up riding , I knew it was dangerous . I knew I might ( probably would ) lay my bike down and be injured . I thought I was mentally prepared for that . After the accident I learned I was most definitely not prepared . I did not expect my emotions to run amuck from one end of the spectrum to the other . During the first two months , you couldn ’ t have paid me to get back on my bike . As far as I was concerned , you could sell it right then . It was more than the physical pain that made me feel that way . It was the pain of seeing my daughter ’ s face as she stepped in the ambulance . It was the pain of thinking I might never have seen my grandchildren again . It was the pain of imagining the guilt I knew my fiancé felt over buying me the bike . I thought about how close I ’ d come to not getting to live my dream of being his wife and growing old with him . As with all things , time moves on . I had to deal with the anger I felt over the situation . I was angry that I couldn ’ t do the things I wanted to do . I was furious that everyone else could move on while I was looking at months ( or longer ) of healing . Even today , my leg is not 100 % healed . It infuriated me that , through no fault of my own , I was now over $ 50,000 in debt and we were struggling to make ends meet . I felt humiliated having to constantly ask for help , both physical and financial . I spent the entire summer sitting in a 30ft camper , hearing the bikes go by on the road outside . And something began to wear on me . continued on page 30