Split second

We currently live close to a railroad track and frequently cross it by car on our daily errands. I grew up next to it and have been taught to always respect the train as trains are large, fast and dangerous. As a first grader I started crossing the train tracks on foot at least twice a day. Since I was a child, I remember hearing about accidents involving careless cars or pedestrians and trains. As a grown up, I read about them. I just never thought that I'd witness one of those accidents first hand from really close up.

There are currently three train crossings in the immediate vicinity of our home. I had just picked Chris up from the airport and we were headed home. While still far away from the crossing I saw that the lights were flashing indicating an oncoming train. I slowed down. By the time we got to it the lights were still flashing but the ramp (barrier) hadn't been lowered yet so I thought that maybe the train had already passed. So I stopped and slowly inched closer to the track so I could check for the oncoming train. At that moment the ramp started lowering behind us. I have to admit that made me very anxious. But, since the ramp and a train track are more than a car length apart, I backed up a little bit and waited for the train to pass. I could see a fast approaching train from the left. Ahead of us and to the right, an elderly man was approaching on foot. It all happened within seconds. We looked over and suddenly realized that the man didn't see the train at all and kept on walking. Both Chris and I started waving and screaming at him to stop. He didn't stop and neither did the train. I couldn't look and have averted my eyes just as the two were to meet. I had to look away and prayed that the man was just fast enought to have made it across. He was just a few feet away from us as was the train. I looked up and saw that the passing train threw him some 10 feet to the side. He wasn't hit directly but being hit by train at all isn't a minor accident. Chris and I rushed out. He was still alive. I rushed back to the car to get the cell and called an ambulance. There wasn't much to do but hold the man's hand and be scared and think about how a moment of carelessness has just changed many lives.

The man's daughter in law appeared maybe a couple of minutes later. She was just passing by when she saw us on a patch of grass next to the track. She scrambled to find his heart medicine as she thought that he had had a heart attack not realizing that he was hit by a train. Until I told her. Before long the ambulance was there. After they whisked him away there was nothing else to do but go home. I read in the newspapers today that he has passed on earlier this morning. That's just very, very sad. Chris got many extra hugs from me this weekend. Many of them because I've missed him so much over past weeks. And then many more on account of this reminder of how fragile life is.