That was a great story of redemption.

My life experience was a little different. We had the usual “dangerous crowd” in my home town – the guys who smoked, drank, and lived life to excess while in high school.

A new job came my way (actually, I pursued it with a single-minded intensity), which after a year of driving 73 miles each way, became difficult, so I moved from my hometown where I had lived for nearly 16 years, out west to a town less than 1/4 the size.

I eventually subscribed to the local newspaper, which was very good at publishing the police briefs.

This is where my experience differs from yours.

In two consecutive weeks, one each of these hard-charging burnouts, embossed his cellular material on the bridge abutments near my new town. Both were riding motorcycles on I-80, and both hit the bridge supports at a speed which resulted in their deaths.

I remember marveling with my wife: “Why did they drive all the way out here to kill themselves, at the corners of No and Where?”

Could it have been someone else (e.g., someone with the same name?) Both had unique monikers, so I strongly suspect it was them. I checked the “reunion” sites, and they aren’t listed at this point, some 33 years later, so I guess it was them.

My story certainly isn’t as uplifting as yours, but it does present an alternative outcome, which perhaps could be cautionary in nature for those of us who choose to live life to nearly the limit. Not everyone is redeemed – some choose to go in a different direction.

I enjoyed your article tremendously. As a child who grew up in the 50’s and being the first born of six I heard a lot of negative messages. There were probably positive ones but I don’t remember them. All this to say that after returning from a two week vacation and spending the time reflecting on my successes and challenges I pretty much have come up with the fact that in looking for the whistles and the bells we don’t always recognize our worth. So thanks for the encouragement, a beautifully written article. Monique

It is too bad that our justice and penal system doesn’t understand that people (especially high school and college young adults) can make dumb mistakes and bad decisions that can ruin their entire lives forever because of how they are punished over sometimes simple transgressions.

There is no clean slate option to get a ‘do over’ to reform their lives due to how background checks are black and white when you try to get a job.

Seems like there is a valuable lesson from your story. Thanks for sharing.