Episode Seventy-Nine: The Byte-Cooper Lee
In this shorter episode Cooper and I discuss the miracle of being there for others. This talented author tells the story of coming upon a car accident and how the magic of strangers coming together can change lives.
Transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Bite Sized Blessings.
I'm driving across the United States this week and so right now I'm in Missouri.
I'm doing this episode for my hotel room so you're gonna have to forgive the background noise.
Sounds of kids playing,
Sounds of the hotel air conditioner because it's hot.
This week is so very exciting.
I get to interview a really groovy author,
Cooper Lee Bombardier.
What a name.
Or in French,
Bombardier.
You dear listener can choose the pronunciation you like.
I'm interviewing Cooper for many reasons.
One,
He has written this incredible memoir,
Pass with Care.
It was the finalist for the 2021 Firecracker Award for Creative Nonfiction and Cooper has received so many accolades for this book,
So many,
Including from Berkeley Fiction Review,
Book Riot,
Lambda Literary Review,
And The Rumpus.
The Rumpus said,
A gorgeously rendered response to what one might call the now what question.
After an experience as metamorphic and all consuming as a gender transition,
What happens next?
Who do we become after that becoming?
Where do we locate meaning?
So the Rumpus asked that question,
Where do we locate meaning?
In this interview,
We get to that,
Or at least one of the places you can locate meaning or create meaning in this world.
It was a really fun interview.
Cooper is so enchanting and funny and intelligent and dynamic.
I really urge everyone to go out and buy Pass with Care.
So now the episode,
Episode 79 of Bite Size Blessings.
I think once you listen to the episode,
You'll understand just why I'm so in awe of this author.
And I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed the conversation.
And I was living in Portland,
Oregon,
And my partner,
Now wife,
Was living in Vancouver,
BC,
And we were long distance back and forth up the I-5 corridor a bunch,
Seeing each other every few weeks.
And one time I was coming back to the city,
To Portland,
Driving back with just my dog.
And I came upon a pretty nasty car accident on the I-5.
And I saw it was like really torrentially raining.
And there was like one of the section of highway where there was like nothing,
But there were like street lamps.
So I saw these cars kind of pulled under the street lamp and a car flipped over on the median.
And I was like,
Oh,
I'm going to be in the car.
So it wasn't very long after the election of Trump.
And I was living in Portland,
Oregon,
And my partner,
Now wife,
Was living in Vancouver,
BC,
And we were long distance back and forth up the I-5 corridor a bunch,
Seeing each other every few weeks.
And one time I was coming back to the city,
To Portland,
Driving back with just my dog.
And I came upon a pretty nasty car accident on the I-5.
And I saw it was like really torrentially raining.
And there was like one of the section of highway where there was like nothing,
But there were like street lamps.
So I saw these cars kind of pulled under the street lamp and a car flipped over on the median,
Like basically on the Jersey barrier,
Dividing the two sides completely upside down.
And I just pulled over and ran across the highway and was like banging on the door trying to get the doors open.
But what happened in this moment was that this guy ran over and he and I were like pounding on the doors trying to get it open.
The airbags were blown up inside the car.
So it was like completely upside down.
We couldn't see anybody.
We couldn't hear anybody.
And through this whole experience,
You know,
The other people who were pulled over by the side of the road,
This one guy came over,
White dude,
The orange construction vest.
And I was like,
You call 911.
He called 911.
And meanwhile,
This this guy who was like this burly Puerto Rican dude who came up to about here on me,
He and I were like running around the car trying to get the doors open.
And then he went around the other side and I heard glass smashing and he smashed the passenger front window open with his fist,
With his bare hand.
And then there was like suddenly these feet.
And we pulled this woman out of the vehicle and bare feet.
It's like December bare feet.
We pull her out and then we pull out her husband and they were two Chinese people,
Somewhat limited English,
Both barefoot.
I was like,
These people were chill,
Like they were just chilling,
Driving their car along,
You know,
Not expecting this.
And they were like without a scratch.
They were totally shaken up.
And then the construction guy was like,
We've got to get these people out of the middle of the road.
I scooped the guy up.
I just was like,
Whoo,
Because he was barefoot and his glass and shit all over the highway.
So I like ran across the highway with him.
And then construction guy who scooped up the woman ran across the highway with her.
And then the other people who had pulled over were like,
Do you want to,
You know,
Like blankets and do you want to come sit in my car and get warm?
And they were so upset about their car.
They were so,
I mean,
Understandably,
Right.
Any one of us,
Like total a car,
It's super stressful,
Super shocking.
The dude who had smashed the window open with his fist was like,
That's just stuff that that's just stuff.
Don't worry about that.
And then I went to my truck and pulled out a flashlight and all these like semis were driving by like super slow.
Everybody just,
It was like everything kind of came to this slow movement and my flashlight was almost dead.
I thought it would be like flagging,
You know,
To get people to go by slowly or whatever.
And the guy walks up to me and he says,
He puts his hands on my shoulders and he's like,
God was talking to you tonight.
And I was like,
I don't know.
I don't know.
And he's like,
No,
God was talking to you tonight and you listened.
And then he held up his hand and that,
And I saw his knuckles were bloody.
And that's when I realized he had smashed the window to get the people out of the car.
And it was just like,
So it was such a beautiful moment,
Right.
Where it was this kind of sense of I live in Portland place where,
You know,
It's not big on God necessarily.
And I have these mixed feelings about the notion of God or this idea of God as I was raised with,
Or with which I was raised,
But it did,
When he said that,
Felt true in this way,
This really core way of feeling like I just didn't even think about stopping.
I didn't even think about pulling over.
I just was like,
Boom,
Side of the road,
Across the highway,
Trying to help.
And that sort of sense of,
I think,
Feeling like part of something bigger than yourself is like that sense of God.
For me,
That's what I felt.
That's what he was talking about.
And then he gave me this big hug and I gave him a big hug.
And then we were like crying on the side of the highway and like everybody was totally fine.
Everybody was totally fine.
But it was this moment where I felt that to me was this core goodness of people,
Just all these random folks,
We just kind of came together and acted to help.
The sort of divisiveness that I had been feeling around the election,
Around leading up to the election and since the election,
I think didn't feel relevant in that moment.
You know,
I'm listening to your story and one of the things I'm thinking of is I know I-5 and it is a crazy pants highway.
It is crazy.
So the entire time you're telling your story,
I'm thinking,
Oh my God,
You're like running across I-5.
I'm thinking,
Oh my God,
Because people drive insane on that highway.
So I'm so glad you included that the,
And plus it's torrentially raining,
Which already reduces visibility.
So then I'm thinking about you running across the highway and I'm like,
It's a miracle you survived just running across that highway.
But I think also,
I mean,
Thank goodness the traffic slowed down,
But it's interesting,
Right?
It's like a group of strangers had this appointment to help these people and they all showed up.
And in those moments of crisis when things are,
Everything's really acute and you couldn't see in the car,
You didn't know what was going on because of the airbags and stuff.
Everyone did what they had to,
To resolve the situation and make sure people were safe.
And it's too bad.
You're right.
Acts of kindness.
Yes.
It's too bad that it takes a crisis or something catastrophic happening to bring people together,
Kind of wash away some of the judgment and hatred so that people can be there for each other.
But I think it also proves that we can be there for each other when need be.
And that all of the political or religious or,
I mean,
Who knows,
All the judgments that we live in every day,
Judging other people,
Those things kind of get washed away.
And that's it.
That's a wrap on episode 79 of Bite Sized Blessings and my really fun interview with the author Cooper Lee.
I'm going to have a link to his book on the website under the episode show notes.
I hope you all get a chance to check it out.
And yes,
This episode was a really good reminder for me that amidst all the divisiveness and the media kind of stirring up the hatred and the animosity for those who don't agree with us that in a pinch,
We humans are miraculously usually there for each other.
The trick is to kind of make sure that we're there for each other when there isn't a crisis,
When things aren't going downhill.
And I think we all are there for each other in lots of different ways as we go about our lives,
Giving someone a ride to the hospital,
To the grocery store,
Helping someone with childcare.
There are so many different ways that we can be there for each other.
Daily life,
Helping each other.
That's what this episode is all about.
I need to thank the creators of the music used for this episode,
John Bartman and Sasha End.
For complete attribution,
Please see the Bite Sized Blessings website at bite-sized-blessings.
Com.
On the website,
You'll find links to music,
Artists,
Creators,
Playlists,
And of course Cooper's book.
Hopefully some of those things will lighten and brighten your day and remind you that this world is a good place.
Thank you for listening,
And here's my one request.
Be like Cooper.
Be there for people.
It doesn't have to be a car crash.
It doesn't necessarily have to be volunteer work or cooking at an AIDS hospice,
But just be there for people.
Again,
How can you be of service to those around you?
And that's it.
That's episode 79.
And I'll see you next week for,
Can You Believe It?
Episode 80.
We are almost to 100.
We're so very close.
20 more episodes,
But next week it's episode 80.
So I'll see you then.
That was my mother's idea when I was in seventh grade and I had to build a Rube Goldberg contraption.
Do you know what that is?
It's like a nightmare.
For someone who's not literal thinking and you have to build something that gets a ball from over here down over here.
And I totally just made something that poured chocolate sauce on ice cream because I wanted to sell things.
That's the best solution.
Who cares about a little ball bearing sliding from point A to point B?
Let's get the chocolate on the ice cream.
Yes.
Then I sold it.
You did?
Yes.
My teacher was a little appalled,
But I was like,
I want ice cream at this event that I'm forced to go to.
I just sat there and ate ice cream in seventh grade.
