48 hours prior to leaving for Connect, last Saturday I found myself in surgery at French Hospital reattaching a severed finger. By evening I was home, packing my suitcase, trying to forget about the day. Between the many shots of Novocaine and the steady drip of morphine, I felt no pain. Sunday was going to be a different story.
So here’s the simple story. Saturday morning, I went to test drive my ‘65 Vespa after a two-month engine overhaul had been completed. The repair shop was located at the end of a dead end street. Against my desire, the mechanic urged me to take it out onto the street suggesting that driving little circles doing 2 miles an hour was no way to test the engine.
I never made it to the street. A pickup truck, too big and too wide turned into the narrow driveway blocking my path out. I had two choices and a split second to decide – his grill or the wall to my right. If you think I’m bad off, you should see the wall.
So I’m a little banged up. The top half of my right hand ring finger was severed. Thankfully I was wearing a glove so I didn’t have to look far for it. The rest of my fingers on my right hand were badly bruised. My arm and leg, scraped. And the Vespa, well… it’s a good thing there’s a body shop right next door to the mechanic. When it’s done, I’ll have it shipped home and as my wife puts it, "Then it goes right into the classifieds".
Other than this blog, I have no way of thanking everyone who approached me at Inman offering concern regarding this injury. I am deeply grateful to all of you and want to assure you that despite my spaced out demeanor at times (you can thank the painkillers for that), I am fine. Really.
I’m challenged by a few things like typing, shaving, tying shoes – little things that get easier each day. Doctors say I’ll be ready for finger therapy in 6 weeks. That’s great news. I just wonder how long it will take to heal from the embarrassment of crashing a scooter into a wall. But to be honest, that’s about as daredevil as I get.
- Davison
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Marc – Christine and I hope everything turns out well. Make sure the doctors do a great job, as the world will be a boring place without your blog posts!
LOL. Thanks James.
marc, i heard from brian about your accident. take care and be well! i am glad it was not worse and that you will be back in the action soon. keep that finger healthy, you will need it!
hank
Marc, best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Pat & Wayne Harriman
wow, it sounds bad, but it could be so much worse. get well soon, i wish you a complete recovery and read you soon. Romana
Stolen Wallet?
Severed Finger?
MLS Comic Book Hero?
Man… Take a breath for a minute? I kinda wish you were a Twitter fan for things like this. I would assume it would go like this.
DavisonDevil: 65 Vespa to counter effects of global warming HO!!!
DavisonDevil: Looking pretty. I love the smell of high octane in the morning.
DavisonDevil: rolling up the khakis. Time to join "Heck's Angels" at Sonic.
DavisonDevil: Cleared the driveway, bring on the hill climb!
DavisonDevil: Truck… big truck… moving towards me.
DavisonDevil: &*(#@#%!(!!!! WALL.
DavisonDevil: mmmmmoooorrrrpppphiiinnnneeee goood.
Hope you feel better buddy.
Marc, sorry I didn't get to meet you, and even more sorry about your finger.
Sorry to hear about your accident – and I wish you a speedy recovery. You commented: "I just wonder how long it will take to heal from the embarrassment of crashing a scooter into a wall." It won't take long for you to laugh about that later…but it will likely always be a little embarrassing. I know because five years ago I ran into the Golden Gate bridge…on my bike…bicycle kind-of-bike.
Imagine if you will: you're driving across the GG bridge and you see some crazy woman on a bike run right into the South pillar. If I had witnessed that incident – rather than being the crazy woman rider – I would have been hysterical with laughter.
When you take on the GG bridge, the bridge always wins. I'm happy to say I didn't lose any digits or even break skin, but had severe bruising, not only on my ego, but on both legs because they ran into the curls of my handlebars. I still have orange paint on my brakes – just a little reminder about speed, sightseeing, and crossing the bridge on my bike.
All these posts are bringing a smile to my face.
Colleen – you actually helped reduce the shame considerably.
Missy – Sorry we did not get to meet but those who I did meet with didn't get to hand with the real Marc. They hung with Percocet Marc.
Matt – Twitter, well I am actually a big fan of Twitter just not a big fan of the whole "what are you doing right now" craze. Honestly, how many of us are really doing anything all that worthy of posting to the world? What I think Twitter needs to be about is "what are you doing right now that benefits me… financially. Then maybe reading about someone waiting for a plane might hold my interest. But, for your enjoyment, I did take pics of the surgery with my iPhone and answered a bunch of email. For a while there I sang the praises of Morphine.
Ramona – Thank you. Recovery will be swift. And I love your name. I had a baby sitter named Ramona back in NYC when I was 11 or 12 and had a crush on her.
Pat and Wayne – Thank you too. I've been at the computer today working. However it seems, the rest of the real estate world is still recovering from Connect!
Hank – Missed you at Connect. We must get together. What got me through this with almost no issue was thinking about what you endured a few years back. Compared to that, this is nothing.
Marc,
Sorry to hear about your accident. Sounds like you're keeping it positive which is good. Wish we could have met at Inman. Still looking forward to talking to you again.
Best,
Kori
At first, I was wondering, "why is he shaking hands with his left like that?" I thought it was kind of cool and figured if anyone could away with it, that'd be you. Then you told me the brief story on Wed eve. Now I've got the whole picture. You're a humble and insightful cat and I'll keep my fingers crossed on both hands that you'll be able to do the same again in no time.
Dude, I was worried about that left hand shake thing and hoping people didn't think I went Hollywood.
I actually thought about doing the fist thing but doing that with a bunch of white guys is downright comical.
Thanks for the well wishes.
You too Kori.
Speed is your friend.
Heal well and get back on that contraption!
Scott L.
Marc, please take care of yourself and please remember, there are always easier ways to obtain drugs than crashing your scooter into a wall.
Seriously, I'm glad your injuries weren't worse and that you'll soon be starting "finger therapy" (is that like anger management?)
Marc,
It was nice to see you at the "Future Brokerage" session at Connect, and sorry to hear about your accident. I was wondering why that finger was wrapped up. To a speedy recovery!
As the price of gas continues to rise so should the market value of that Vespa!
George
Marc -
Honestly, I'm disappointed. When I think of all the time you have spent encouraging others to forge their own path I can't help but lament the missed opportunity here. With no right ring finger, what would have really been lost? Sure there'd be the inconvenience of a skipped O and L when typing, but focus on the possibilities. For one, you could have truly adopted your own language. Only Davison readers would know where "the rad t kier" leads.
Or…you could have finally pursued your childhood dream of playing baseball. You'd have a wicked circle change-up or, better yet, your very own split-fingered fastball.
You'd be a third of the way towards giving the permanent shaka sign.
You'd be a step ahead of the crowd on all countdowns.
You'd get a 10% discount on gloves.
Seriously, best wishes for a complete recovery. It could have been much worse and the world would have been a duller place.
Next time I see you I'll be sure to give you a big high-four.
Speed is my friend Scott. Yes. And I have warned the wife that if I am forced to sell the Vespa, I will be taking the covers off the 911 in the garage and start flying around in that thing again.
As for market value George, I agree. Especially considering the refried back to back restoration on that damn thing.
Nicolai – you left out my opportunity to impersonate Jerry Garcia. Granted his was the middle finger and mine the ring but it's close enough. 10% discount of gloves…LOL! A smart salesperson would however, introduce me to their line of Mittens. Great stuff!
Hello Marc,
Nice to see you at Inman and thanks for taking the time to chat. Take care and get well soon and eventually get back into the saddle for that unexplainable freedom of two wheels.
Marc-
Now, see I was being polite at Inman and I figured it was a can opener accident, or a Sleeper Sofa incident.
The good news is that you are in the same brotherhood now as Wayne Rainey, Roger Lee Hayden and so many other motorcycle daredevils.
They probably won't name a corner at Laguna Seca after you though.
That doesn't help does it?
Here's what I have learned… there are two sets of motorcycle riders. Those who have been in accidents and those who will be in accidents. I now consider myself having graduated to the upper class.
Been to the doctor today. Stitches are out. I have feeling and slight movement. Doctor said, "use the finger as much as possible". I am now considering all the possibilities.
They may not name a corner of Laguna after me but the local scooter club called and asked if I could keynote the next get-together at Foster Freeze in September.
Anyone want to sponsor me? I think this might be a good opportunity for any one of your brands to penetrate the scooter community. With all the money these dudes are saving on gas, they might be your best candidates for buyers come fall!
Marc,
I made aware of the accident at a meeting this week and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. By now this blog post has reached a certain level of fame!
Anyway, me and the fam send our best wishes for a speedy recovery. I wouldn't worry too much about the ego… The fact that you had your finger severed and was packing for Connect the same night? 100% Man.
Just getting around to my 1000watt reading and find that you're missing some flesh- ouch… clearly there's a lot of love and good vibes coming your way, Marc. Heal quickly we look forward to your posts. And sorry to have missed you at Inman.