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Aug
28
Have you ever had something happen that really affected you, how you think and how you live? Something that maybe only lasted an instant, but stayed with you for a very long time?
A couple of years ago I had to drive into the city, which is about 20 miles from the suburb I live in. It was a rainy summer day, started out just cloudy but the storm whipped into a frenzy right after I got onto the highway. For some reason there was quite a bit of traffic that morning.
I am a very cautious driver. I was driving even more carefully in that storm. But there were some pokey drivers in the right hand lane, braking more than was necessary, so I scooted over to the left lane. Still driving carefully, but I didn’t want to be stuck behind a nervous driver who might brake unexpectedly.
Before I knew it I was surrounded by cars on each side, and the rain was slamming down. I was going slow, we were all going slow, but suddenly I felt my tires sliding. I didn’t panic, I assumed since I was going slow everything would right itself if I didn’t do anything stupid like slam on my brakes. So I didn’t.
But I kept sliding. I completely lost control of my car, but instead of sliding into the person to the right of me, or in front of me, I slid into the grass center lane. I had absolutely no control of my car. I could see that I wasn’t slowing down, just still sliding across that grass center. Right towards the metal dividers.
I didn’t hit the metal divider, but kept sliding, all the way across that center strip. When I realized the car wasn’t even close to stopping or slowing down, I screamed NO, hard enough that my throat hurt. Coming towards me, in the other lane that I was sliding towards, was a cement truck. A picture flashed through my head of my car sliding out onto the highway, right into the path of that truck. Or worse, sliding clear across and careening over the drop off. Either way, I was scared to death and couldn’t do a thing.
It seemed like the whole thing took forever, but it was seconds. My car went up onto the highway, facing the oncoming traffic. But instead of sliding out into the line of traffic, my car lined up right beside the divider, and stopped. No one hit me. In fact, as I caught my breath and looked around, there was very little traffic coming towards me now, just a stray car here and there.
It took a couple of seconds for me to get myself together, I couldn’t think of what I needed to do to get out of there and back in the right direction. I finally just tried to drive. I pulled forward a couple of feet til I was past the highway divider and got back into the grass center lane. I was amazed that my car was working, but I turned it around and headed back home.
I made it to the closest Quik Trip and pulled in, shaking and crying. I got out and looked at my car. The only sign of what had just happened was the wet grass all over the bottom of the car. Not a scratch, even though I had been so close to that highway divider that I couldn’t have opened my passenger door.
I have to keep saying it, not a scratch. I lost control of my car, on a busy highway, flew across the center lane and ended up going the wrong way in the far lane. Amazing.
That was a life changing moment for me. I had been going through a rough time, dealing with depression, anxiety and a spiritual crisis. I felt alone, and worthless. I often questioned if my family might be better off without me.
But when I screamed NO in my car, I meant No, I’m not done yet. Somehow, someone listened.
Honestly, I don’t know why it turned out the way it did. I just know that I will always remember that rainy morning. For weeks afterwards, whenever I drove by that spot, you could see my tire tracks crossing the grass and coming thisclose to that median. They were that deep in the muddy grass. That made me shake and cry all over again, not with fright, but with gratitude.
Have you had a life changing moment, or moments? If you did, how did it affect you, how did it change you? Did it wake you up, like my life changing moment did for me?
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3 Responses to “Life changing moments”
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mary on August 29th, 2008 3:42 pm
Wow. What a story. It gave me chills!
I haven’t had one of these. And on the one hand, I don’t want to…it’s traumatic. But on the other hand, who can’t use a wake-up call? I try to learn from other people’s, but I imagine that nothing compares to having your own.
Thanks for sharing.
Sheri on August 29th, 2008 7:51 pm
I know, this is nothing I wish on anyone. But, strangely enough, it was what I needed at the time. I would prefer a more subtle “awakening” though,lol.
Vickie Bartlett on January 27th, 2009 12:05 pm
I have had a moment. I was on the busy freeway when a problem developed with my car and I lost control. Fortunately I was the only one involved and I was not hurt. Yes, it does change your life.