attrib: lego re-enactment of sunday on the banks of the river marne by [balakov]

we all headed out to ocean beach to enjoy the last of the labor day weekend and escape the suburban heat and the noise/stuffiness of our house. it was a near-perfect 73 degrees on the sand and everyone was enjoying themselves. the daughter was working on her tan and the boys were playing with other kids in the sand, all marveling at a live crab on the sand trying to get back in the surf.

a park ranger came creeping along in a big F-250 pickup and told some nearby teens to not head out past waist-high in the water because of some rip currents that could drag them in. i flagged the ranger down near our spot on the sand and asked if he could do anything about the parking lot situation. lots of folks had parked in a red zone and it was making ingress/egress difficult for legit parkers like myself. in a polite way, he said he was tending to the beach and he can’t give it much attention. as he steps off the brake to move forward, we see mateo in front of the truck by only a foot or two, walking towards us with no idea what was happening. he was below the beltline of the truck and so the ranger did not see him as he was about to move on. we both quickly yelled for him to stop, and i scooped mateo out from the path of the truck. for a second, everyone sort of looked at each other as we all realized that we were just a moment away from a complete disaster. i traveled the whole range of emotions from complacency to intense fear to intense relief in the span of a couple seconds.

it’s something i will not soon forget. i’d like to think i’m a pretty good parent to the kids, but something like this grabs your attention and reminds you that there’s always more you could be doing.

TL;DR – mateo was almost run over by a truck yesterday.