C'est la vie, say the old folks : it goes to show, you never can tell!

Weird yesterday morning, to have heard on the early sports reports that Maryland native Nick Adenhart, 22, did fairly well as starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels the night before out in LA. He pitched six shutout innings and left the game in the hands of the bullpen, and the Angels eventually lost the game due to the fact that the Oakland A's scored more runs. But again, it was nice to hear that a guy from Williamsport High in Western Maryland had made it to the major leagues and was off to a good start.

But by lunchtime came the news...Adenhart died early yesterday morning in a car accident in Fullerton, Calif. Three people were killed and another was seriously injured in the three vehicle-accident. Police blame the accident on a motorist who ran a red light with his van and then fled the scene.

According to the news reports, it was unclear if Adenhart was killed immediately or died after being transported from the scene. A passenger from the van was taken to Western Medical Center in Anaheim with minor injuries. A third vehicle, which was stopped in the intersection at the time of the accident, was also involved but the driver was not seriously hurt.

It seems to me that some things are put out there to serve as lessons or thought material. We see a blind guy on American Idol, and we give thanks for our gift of sight and his determination to stride on. We see others with loss of mobility, speech, hearing, cognition, and we get that reminder to be grateful for ours.

But no one watching a big-league ball game on a Wednesday night in Anaheim, California, is going to sit and think that the pitcher who is doing so well on the mound will never make it home. 22, and he had probably been the star athlete and a local celebrity since he put on his first Little League uniform, and he had a bright future, and it's all over in the time it takes a three-car pileup to unfold.

No warning, no sign, no harbinger of doom. That's the way life is: sometimes you get the test first, and then the lesson.