The Nine Lives of Mr. A

Mr. A is my husband Jody. He was a Scoutmaster for a number of years for our local Boy Scout troop and all his scouts, and their families call him Mr. A. He is now an Assistant SM because his hours at work were making it difficult to lead the troop. He was always there if they needed help and devoted many hours of his time to make sure they went camping, to the races, and any other activity they would enjoy. He recently received the mentor pin by one of our scouts who made his Eagle rank. My hubby is a bit rough around the edges, blunt to a fault at times, never the type you would see in dress up clothes but he is a hard worker and always there if someone needs help. He's a pay it forward kind of guy to the point where he has a ton of good deeds banked. This is why I think he is still alive today.

My husband started his fifth life at 1:00 am on July 3rd. He could be on Discovery Channel's I Shouldn't Be Alive TV show 4 times over.

Life 1- Back in the early 1990s hubby was working as a mechanic for Visone Construction. It was a Saturday and only he and one other guy was working. They were at opposite ends of the building. The other guy was cutting apart something off an old truck with a torch not realizing there was a small amount of gas and fumes built up in the gas tank. A spark ignited the tank and there was an explosion. Hubby ran out of the building which was now engulfed in flames. He looked around for his coworker but didn't see him, so hubby ran back into the building to find him. He found the man, snuffed the flames and pulled him out of the building. Unfortunately, the man only lived long enough at the hospital for his family to say goodbye. Hubby got a bit singed but nothing major. He still carries his old social security card which is burnt around the edges.

Life 2- in the late 90s when Jody was working for a house construction company, Bardon Homes, there was an accident on the job site. The second floor of the house collapsed on him. The claw end of a hammer embedded in his chin but aside from that he was OK.

Life 3-- in 2005 while repairing a semi, a spring (which is huge) decompressed and struck him in the head with 300lbs of force, just missing his eye. Although amazingly, it did not crack his skull, he did have severe headaches for quite a while. (Thank goodness any treatment in the future, no matter when, will be paid for by NYS Comp.)

Life 4- Mr. A started work on July 2nd at 6 am as he does everyday. Hubby is used to 14+ hour days. That day, late in the afternoon he got a road call for a truck broke down 340 miles away in Ithaca, NY. He almost made it all the way back to work at 1:00 am on the 3rd, only three roads from the shop----when he feel asleep at the wheel. The truck hit a ditch, came to an abrupt stop when the nose hit an embankment, and flipped over onto its back. When he came to and felt he was in one piece, he used a wrench to smash out the driver side window and get out of the truck. Since we are in a rural area he had to walk down the road to someone's house, knock and their door, and ask to use their phone. The nice man there called me on the phone and I drove straight there. Below are some pictures. My husband didn't have a scratch on him, mud yes, because the ditch had water in it due to a recent rain, but thank you God, he was unhurt.

Jody is on the left in the photo below. Kyle Brundage is on the right. They are cleaning up the roadway and taking equipment out of the truck.



How he got out of the cab when you can't even see it above ground is beyond me.

Video of the tow truck driver flipping the truck right side up.

Video of tow truck driver dragging truck onto the road. Do you see that cab? I still can't believe he got out.

This is post #3 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.