Back in January, 1984, my pregnant wife and I were taking a walk along College Avenue. It was snowy & extremely cold, but we were properly dressed: insulated boots, coats, gloves AND mittens, hats, and scarves. We were crossing a ice-covered traffic ramp which permitted cars to leave the road and enter a construction site. This site was where the Jewish Center of Columbus was being built. The side of the road was occupied with deep snow banks, the result of snow plows clearing the street.

Suddenly, without warning, I grabbed her by her armpits, lifted her up, and threw her from the traffic ramp into the nearby snowbank. As she flew through the air, she spun around and landed more or less on her feet. The look on her face was surprise and shock as I jumped into the snow bank beside her. Then, as she gazed back to where we had been walking, her surprised look vanished when she saw the speeding car drive up the ramp where we had been walking. The entire process took less time than it takes to read this paragraph.

I had inadvertently bruised her armpits, but I did not apologize, nor should I have done so. If I had wasted time by telling her to jump, she would have been injured, at the very least, and possibly killed.