Oh the absurdity of it all

Jon decided he didn't have enough marks on his face, so he went and plowed into the back of a minivan on his bike.

He was at an intersection and when the light turned green, the minivan started moving, and Jon started pedalling, looking over his shoulder to see if a car was coming up. He didn't know the minivan had stopped while he was doing this, so when he turned his head back, there was the wall of minivan in front of him, and he had no chance to brake appropriately. First the bike, then his head, slammed into the back window.

Helmets are supposed to protect your head, but it turns out that the force of impact made the helmet-strap cut into the bottom of his chin. He wound up needing six stitches.

He didn't even realize he had a gaping wound on the bottom of his chin. He was telling me about the unfortunate event, saying, "No, no, I'm fine, I'm not hurt," then he moved the paper towel at his chin and revealed the brilliant red wound, skin hanging down like the beginnings of age, and I said, "No, I think you need stitches."

I started laughing at this point. He said, "Oh, don't cry!" To which I snickered, "I'm LAUGHING at you!" Because that's what I do when I'm under any kind of stress--it just bubbles out in laughter: oh the absurdity of it all!

For those of you who don't know, this is the third wreck Jon has been in that has required stitches (and sometimes more). He has scars on his eyebrow, the top of his chin, and matching slashes on both of his cheekbones (from two separate accidents) so that he looks like he is a gang member. Now we can add the bottom of his chin to this list. I told him he needs to get scars on his nose and lips so that he has all the major parts of his face covered. Now do you understand why I started laughing?

So we ended up spending over six hours Friday night in various waiting rooms, trying to find someone who could stitch him up.

Is there someone out there that could patent bubble wrap for cyclists' faces?