by Bob Morin

This month’s column is a particularly difficult one for me to write. For one thing, I can only type with one hand and for another I’m very late in getting this to Nancie. December has been kind of a sad month for me, but in other respects, it’s been very special.

For those who don’t know, very early Saturday morning, December 11 th, I fell down a flight of stairs at home in the middle of the night, while trying to come to Sheila’s aid as she was sick in the downstairs bathroom. The fall earned me an ambulance trip in a neck collar and on a back board.  My neck and back were just tweaked thankfully, (according to the CT Scan) but I had a bruised left foot, a badly sprained right big toe, a really scraped up right knee, a sprained right wrist that went home in a splint and a broken left wrist that was set and went home in a cast.  Needless to say, I would not be attending that evening’s Chapter Holiday Party. Since we were supposed to be bringing some of the refreshments for the party, we had to make some calls to fellow board members to let them know, so the word traveled quickly.

Since that time, I learned that a car club friend badly shattered her arm, another car club friend’s mother fell and fractured her hip, and then it got worse from there. A very dear car club friend from Indianapolis lost his fight with cancer and yet another very close friend from the club lost her mother on the same day. We wondered if it would ever end.  

What became apparent though is that this car club is so much more than a club. We’re a family. Car club friends from Florida and Virginia had made arrangements to go to Indy for a celebration of life and to more or less say their goodbyes. Unfortunately, they were two days too late, but were there to comfort other friends from the local group in Indy who we’ve all become close to due to the F1 corrals. Back home, e-mails and calls came flowing in from Chapter members all wishing me well. Then the word got outside the Chapter and O’fest friends from all over the country started calling to check up on me. The outpouring of concern was quite moving and we realized how special our car club friends have become to us. I guess I always knew this. But it really came to light during that one week when all of this was going on and the calls were coming and going from all across the country. Heck, on two different occasions in that week, I spoke to friends from three different states (VA, FL and IN) on one call from IN and on the other occasion I spoke with friends from FL (and these were different FL friends than the first call), CT and IL, all calling from FL.

Now I’m sure you all have some great friends in your lives, but for those who have resisted getting more involved in the club, I can’t help but think you are missing an opportunity to meet some really special people.

The Monday before Christmas, I went in for surgery on my left wrist and I’m now nearly bionic, with many titanium screws and pins inserted. I’m not much of a typist anyway, but this one-handed stuff is really a chore.

Next month, I’ll try to get this column back to its more normal nature of covering Chapter business, but for now I would just like to thank Willy Wiley for organizing the Holiday Party and Barbara Bisset for doing the Yankee Swap.   Thanks too, to all the well-wishers since my accident.

Happy New Year, don’t forget to vote and see you at the Annual Dinner. I’ll be the one whose wife is cutting his food for him.