(no subject)
i know i didn't take the advice, but i needed to get this done thx anyway nick, i'll keep it in mind for the next one.
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On May 27th, 2003, one of my best friends, Paul Williams, and I, got ourselves into a rather intense car accident. It was my birthday, and I was yet to pick out a birthday present to recieve from my mother. Paul picked me up, and we proceeded to Best Buy, so that I could look for something that I wanted as a gift. The trip home is when the fun started. Paul drives a Pontiac Trans Am, for those of you who aren't exactly car savy, a Trans Am is a sports car. Nice and low to the ground, with a V8. We were going around 130 on M-59 on the drive home, and we were talking about how fast his car can go on the curves of the exit ramp. That is when he exclaimed "Hey, check this out, I'm gonna take this at 90!" and I replied with a big "YESSS!!!" It happened to be a bit wet outside that night, Paul took the turn too sharp, and caught the grass on the inside of the bend. As quick as everything happened, there was no saving us from our 90 mph slide. We slid for a great distance, into the ditch, and hitting a sign on my side of the car. Paul and I were both left unmarked, I would say we were left un-touched, but we were touched by greater forces. This is not the experience I am presenting to you, this is just for you to keep in your minds for later.
Two days after the previous event, Ben Paladino and Charlie McWain were in a more serious accident. Ben was the driver of a first generation Eagle Talon. Once again, for those of you who aren't the best with cars, a Talon is about the size of a sardine can, and the passenger seat of this car was often known as the Death Chair. Unfortunately, Charlie was sitting in the passenger seat this night, and as they were just cruising at the speed limit to Taco Bell on Rochester Road, the flashling lights caught the eye of Ben from the police officer across the road. At this moment, a woman made an illegal left turn into the Meijer's parking lot, and struck Ben and Charlie head on. The damages didn't seem too excessive, though the car was totalled, Ben was alright for the most part, he needed surgery on his knee and he wore a brace for a month or two after the accident. Charlie was fine that night, he complained of chest pains from where the seatbealt had grabbed him, but he was his normal self, making fun of the person on the other side of the road who got pulled over. Charlie refused to go to the hospital to be examined, he said he'd be fine in a week when the bruise went away. The next morning Charlie woke up, and complained of a stomache pain. His parents took him to be examined at the hospital, and they found that fluid was leaking into his stomach from his aorta. The doctors tried to sew the vein back together, but later they reported back to the parents, saying that it was like trying to stitch two peices of wet tissue paper together. That morning, one of this world's finest characters passed away on the operating table.
Marcy Cruise stated the following in her eulogy during the funeral "Through the terrible CD’s being thrown out the window and the two o’clock trips to taco bell, the new words, and all the laughter, the hours spent on the road Charlie immersed himself where ever he was and never stopped enjoying life and having fun." I quote Marcy because I saw that side of Charlie, everytime that we hung out. Though I only hung out with him about twenty times, and I only knew him for maybe 8 months, he made one of the biggest impacts on my life, that have ever been made. I have memories that will be burned into my mind forever. These memories range from street racing on Gratiot, to prank phone calls, to watching CKY, to just sitting around talking. When you were with Charlie there was never a dull moment. He always had your stomach in knots from laughter. He made fun of everybody, and everything. Charlie loved cars, more specifically imports. He drove a '96 Honda Civic hatchback, that ran a 14 second quarter mile, spinning his stock tires down the whole strip, which is a quick time for a four cylinder if you ask me.
If Charlie made enough of an impact on my life, for me to be in tears for a half hour at the funeral, and still bring a tear to my eye when I read the eulogy that Marcy wrote, or looking at old photos; I can not even begin to think of how much it hurt other people to let him go. How much it hurt those he saw every day, those who knew him for five years, or even his parents, and his loving sister Haley. On May 30th, 2003, this world lost one of the greatest beings it will ever see. Charlie left part of himself with each and every person he interacted with, but there were a select few that he left the greatest memories, and even though he passed away, he gave us more, just thinking about what He could have possibly said as a reaction to something, at any given moment. These select few quickly became my weekend hang out crowd after Charlie died, and I will forever hold this group close to my heart
I chose this experience for two reasons. I wanted to leave a bit of Charlie with every one here, because you all deserve it in some way or another, and I want to teach everyone a lesson about driving. Highly ironic if you ask me, seeing as I am possibly one of the most wreckless drivers on the road, I just drive the way my friends have raised me. But, going back to the earlier mentioned, it does not matter how fast you drive, or how careful you are, it takes just that split second of a wondering mind, and an illegal left turn to cause a fatal accident.
I'm going to end this, and leave you with something we've all thought about charlie at one point or another, a quote made by Hunter S. Thompson, from the end of the film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
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On May 27th, 2003, one of my best friends, Paul Williams, and I, got ourselves into a rather intense car accident. It was my birthday, and I was yet to pick out a birthday present to recieve from my mother. Paul picked me up, and we proceeded to Best Buy, so that I could look for something that I wanted as a gift. The trip home is when the fun started. Paul drives a Pontiac Trans Am, for those of you who aren't exactly car savy, a Trans Am is a sports car. Nice and low to the ground, with a V8. We were going around 130 on M-59 on the drive home, and we were talking about how fast his car can go on the curves of the exit ramp. That is when he exclaimed "Hey, check this out, I'm gonna take this at 90!" and I replied with a big "YESSS!!!" It happened to be a bit wet outside that night, Paul took the turn too sharp, and caught the grass on the inside of the bend. As quick as everything happened, there was no saving us from our 90 mph slide. We slid for a great distance, into the ditch, and hitting a sign on my side of the car. Paul and I were both left unmarked, I would say we were left un-touched, but we were touched by greater forces. This is not the experience I am presenting to you, this is just for you to keep in your minds for later.
Two days after the previous event, Ben Paladino and Charlie McWain were in a more serious accident. Ben was the driver of a first generation Eagle Talon. Once again, for those of you who aren't the best with cars, a Talon is about the size of a sardine can, and the passenger seat of this car was often known as the Death Chair. Unfortunately, Charlie was sitting in the passenger seat this night, and as they were just cruising at the speed limit to Taco Bell on Rochester Road, the flashling lights caught the eye of Ben from the police officer across the road. At this moment, a woman made an illegal left turn into the Meijer's parking lot, and struck Ben and Charlie head on. The damages didn't seem too excessive, though the car was totalled, Ben was alright for the most part, he needed surgery on his knee and he wore a brace for a month or two after the accident. Charlie was fine that night, he complained of chest pains from where the seatbealt had grabbed him, but he was his normal self, making fun of the person on the other side of the road who got pulled over. Charlie refused to go to the hospital to be examined, he said he'd be fine in a week when the bruise went away. The next morning Charlie woke up, and complained of a stomache pain. His parents took him to be examined at the hospital, and they found that fluid was leaking into his stomach from his aorta. The doctors tried to sew the vein back together, but later they reported back to the parents, saying that it was like trying to stitch two peices of wet tissue paper together. That morning, one of this world's finest characters passed away on the operating table.
Marcy Cruise stated the following in her eulogy during the funeral "Through the terrible CD’s being thrown out the window and the two o’clock trips to taco bell, the new words, and all the laughter, the hours spent on the road Charlie immersed himself where ever he was and never stopped enjoying life and having fun." I quote Marcy because I saw that side of Charlie, everytime that we hung out. Though I only hung out with him about twenty times, and I only knew him for maybe 8 months, he made one of the biggest impacts on my life, that have ever been made. I have memories that will be burned into my mind forever. These memories range from street racing on Gratiot, to prank phone calls, to watching CKY, to just sitting around talking. When you were with Charlie there was never a dull moment. He always had your stomach in knots from laughter. He made fun of everybody, and everything. Charlie loved cars, more specifically imports. He drove a '96 Honda Civic hatchback, that ran a 14 second quarter mile, spinning his stock tires down the whole strip, which is a quick time for a four cylinder if you ask me.
If Charlie made enough of an impact on my life, for me to be in tears for a half hour at the funeral, and still bring a tear to my eye when I read the eulogy that Marcy wrote, or looking at old photos; I can not even begin to think of how much it hurt other people to let him go. How much it hurt those he saw every day, those who knew him for five years, or even his parents, and his loving sister Haley. On May 30th, 2003, this world lost one of the greatest beings it will ever see. Charlie left part of himself with each and every person he interacted with, but there were a select few that he left the greatest memories, and even though he passed away, he gave us more, just thinking about what He could have possibly said as a reaction to something, at any given moment. These select few quickly became my weekend hang out crowd after Charlie died, and I will forever hold this group close to my heart
I chose this experience for two reasons. I wanted to leave a bit of Charlie with every one here, because you all deserve it in some way or another, and I want to teach everyone a lesson about driving. Highly ironic if you ask me, seeing as I am possibly one of the most wreckless drivers on the road, I just drive the way my friends have raised me. But, going back to the earlier mentioned, it does not matter how fast you drive, or how careful you are, it takes just that split second of a wondering mind, and an illegal left turn to cause a fatal accident.
I'm going to end this, and leave you with something we've all thought about charlie at one point or another, a quote made by Hunter S. Thompson, from the end of the film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."