The Time Cooper’s Mom Almost Killed Him

Thanks to the Bluetooth in my car, I usually use my 10-minute ride home to catch up with my friends and family.  Sometimes it's with other DJ friends or my son's mother, but normally I talk with my mother.

Since we're past Mother's Day, I feel comfortable telling this story.

During a recent call with mom, I complained about the other drivers as I passed through the Cony rotary.  That's when she reminded me that Houlton used to have a rotary.  After describing to me, in typical Mainer style, where it had been located ("Ya' know, it was right down the street from where John's Clothes and Stuff used to be"), she told me about the time we got t-boned in the rotary.

It happened when she was taking Baby Cooper out to do some errands.  As we entered the rotary in our old 1970s boat of a car, she noticed one of the other drivers was too busy keeping an eye the cop behind her and wasn't paying attention as she entered the rotary.  When my mom realized the other woman was going to hit us, she "grabbed the baby carrier to hold it steady".

I said, "Are you sure you had me in the front seat?" and she told me, back then, it wasn't a big deal.

Then I asked, "But, I was in a car seat and buckled in, right?"

That's when she told me that I was just sitting in my "pumpkin carrier" and that was just sitting on the front seat of the car.

WOW!  It's a good thing this happened when we were crawling slowly through town and not driving 50 MPH.  I'm still here, so everything turned out okay.

Back then, they just tossed a baby carrier in the front seat and drove off.  Fast forward 30 years and we're agonizing over whether or not our daughters are old enough (heavy enough?) to be facing forward.

Thank God things have changed a lot in the last 40 years.