GLOVELINES:
ACCIDENT!  One glove wearer speaks out.
By Elizabeth Hughes Boice

 

As glove season approaches once again I'm reminded of how gloves saved my hand last year.  Yes, they save my cuticles every year, but last year upped the ante.

 

Picture it: November 2006.

 

It was the weekend before Thanksgiving. I was headed to a friend's wedding. I had just purchased a new pair for gloves the day before. (I am forever looking for the "perfect" glove -- the ultimate combination of comfort, warmth, and digital dexterity.) I selected a pair of fire-truck red gloves lined with thinsulate. They were warm, soft -- and not too thick.

 

While the weather itself was sunny, the sage words of Glove Guidance rang in my head.  When I donned the bright crimson crusaders on my way from the church to the reception, a few friends chuckled.  "You must have gotten Greg's glove notice," they teased. Indeed I had.

 

I was no fool; I'd be wearing gloves until April. These chuckling friends thought it humorous that I was actually wearing gloves on a mid-November day when the thermometer hovered around 50. Little did I know how grateful I'd be for those gloves just five hours later.

 

Full on Chicken French and the Chicken Dance, my husband and I left the reception later that evening.  I once again donned my new gloves to head into the November night.  "I'll drive," I offered, flashing my covered hands.  He nodded.  

 

We were two minutes down the road when the unthinkable happened. A car rounded a curve from the opposite direction ~ and careened into our lane! I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  I slammed on the breaks and swerved to my right at the last minute. They say you see your life flash before your eyes. My only thought was, "we're dead!"

 

The car came to a stop, air bags inflated, and smoke surrounded us. Thankfully someone came to my car door and helped pull it open from the outside because I couldn't get it to budge. I got out of the car -- shaken, shocked, and of course fully gloved.

 

Moments later, the bride from the wedding came running from the newlywed vehicle (by now the road was filled with cars stopped behind us and, judging from the sirens, emergency vehicles were on the way.) The bride, on her way to her honeymoon, said "I knew it was you when we drove by because I spotted your gloves."

 

The story has a happy ending.  My injuries included minor chest and back pains (probably from the seatbelt) and minor knee pains (probably from hitting my knees under the dashboard).  The most troublesome symptom was a nagging, burning sensation on my left arm -- just below my wrist.  But the ambulance whisked me away to the ER before I verbalized this additional pain.  My wrist throbbed the whole way.

 

The competent hospital staff evaluated my chest, neck, and knees.  When I complained of wrist discomfort, the attendants were shocked by what they discovered!  The burning pain was literally a second-degree burn on a two-inch patch of my arm where the skin was exposed above my glove.

 

The glove itself?  No longer brand new looking. It looked like it had melted.  Like I'd cooked it for dinner.  Part of it stuck to itself.

 

My speculation is that the chemicals used to inflate the airbag sprayed my left hand and glove. If I hadn't been wearing those gloves, my left hand would have been burned and damaged from a substance that Ford claims "does not exist".

 

Not only did the gloves keep my hands warm and protected from the elements that night, they protected my left hand from something far worse.

 

See the damage for yourself in the photos below.  I thank God the injuries weren't worse for anyone involved.  And then I thank my gloves!

 

If this testimony made as much sense to you as it does to us, please visit Gregory Gerard's (our founder's) even-more-important writing at WWW.JUPITERSSHADOW.COM. It's a free stop. You won't regret the trip.

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