{"id":263,"date":"2015-01-04T07:43:59","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T07:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/?p=263"},"modified":"2015-01-05T06:20:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T06:20:50","slug":"cat-whisker-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/?p=263","title":{"rendered":"Cat Whisker Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALEB<\/p>\n

My husband and I have lived on this busy road for almost 15 years. It\u2019s now a two-lane road funneling commuters from Snohomish, East Bothell and Eastern suburbs into Seattle. Maples line the street, forming an canopy of shade over the road. In the fall, when the leaves turn wine and red, orange and yellow, drivers stop, park their cars, and get out to take photos. <\/p>\n

Cat Whisker Road is a residential street lined with homes and apartment complexes. The speed limit is 35 miles per hour, but drivers barrel along faster than that during rush hour. Children and seniors live on this street, not to mention dogs and cats. Last summer, the road was four lanes. A bicyclist walking his bike in a cross walk was fatally struck by a pickup. Caleb, the bicyclist, was 16 when he died. The truck driver didn\u2019t see him in the cross walk until it was too late. <\/p>\n

Since his death, Caleb\u2019s family has kept fresh flowers, artificial orchid leis, live plants, stuffed animals and love notes at the accident site. Shortly after the memorial, an old bike spray-painted white \u2014 a ghost bike \u2014 appeared. It\u2019s still chained it to a maple trunk near the memorial. <\/p>\n

The City of Kenmore, after years of ignoring the crazy traffic and poorly maintained sidewalks, hurriedly redesigned the traffic lanes. At the base of the road, off of Bothell Way (a major thoroughfare), the four lanes remain, but now they quickly merge to two lanes well before the walkway and busy intersection. The City installed yellow lights on the crosswalk that flash when a pedestrian presses a button to cross. Still, it\u2019s a gamble for someone on foot to cross Cat Whisker. For a long stretch, there are no stop signs, so it\u2019s easy for a driver to pick up speed without thinking.<\/p>\n

When I walk my dog past Caleb\u2019s memorial, I check it out to see if new plants and flowers have been added. It\u2019s winter now, and the plastic flowers have faded. Caleb\u2019s photo, nestled among the flowers, has faded a little, too. He must\u2019ve been a cool kid. He has an open, genial expression, with clear skin and eyes. <\/p>\n

We are in such a hurry to get from one place to another. At the same time, we\u2019re bored with driving, and distract ourselves with radio, breakfast, putting on makeup, texting, and phone calls. I can\u2019t imagine what it must feel like for the young man whose truck plowed into Caleb. How does your own life change after you\u2019ve accidentally taken someone else\u2019s? <\/p>\n

\"Ghost<\/a>

Ghost Bike<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CALEB My husband and I have lived on this busy road for almost 15 years. It\u2019s now a two-lane road funneling commuters from Snohomish, East Bothell and Eastern suburbs into Seattle. Maples line the street, forming an canopy of shade over the road. In the fall, when the leaves turn wine and red, orange and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phpFj8-4f","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271,"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynn-knight-writer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}