I stood cloaked in the darkness of my garage facing the snow outside.

I’d just gotten back from checking on someone because of the ice and cold. A car passed along the street not making a sound.

My newest vehicle was constructed fourteen years ago and, while not loud, is certainly not silent. It’s impressive, considering what it takes to make a car function, that any could be so utterly silent as the car on my street whose forward movement depends on harnessed explosions.

Explosions!

The fuel is put to spark and ignites violently, creating the pressure for the dance of machinery that transports people.

One of those people is in intensive care at a local hospital and owing to the miserable weather, I happened to be the only family on the scene right after they removed the tubes from his mouth.

Fresh off work, I navigated to the hospital and up to the room where both my parent were sitting up in their respective hospital beds.

A nurse told me to remind dad to take deep breaths and talk.

The first words to me were that he needed a drink, so I asked if they’d swab out his mouth. They did, but he still wanted the drink.

He asked, “Are you Dennis”?

I told him I was and smiled when I shared that even my brother didn’t recognize me.

He asked where he was.

After a few moments of reorientation, he told me about his reaction to the accident as it was happening, “I thought I was going to die.”

He looks fragile in conversation, owing to the affect of having been intubated.

I told him I and the rest of the family are very, very happy that he is still with us and that this progress makes today an excellent day indeed!

I know this man. He is not a loud person, nor prone to many words.

For the recent days since that accident, he’s been silent. He had little choice. Now, he’s going to make some noise. There may not be explosions going on in that noble head, but there is intelligence, good will, and personality.

He gets to talk : )