A lesson learned the hardway

Life's lessons come when you least expect them. They come at a time when you believe that nothing can go wrong, and that you have everything set the way you want it. As for me, well I learned the hard way, that you need to be greatful for what you have, and caution in everything you do. Life isn't a game, don't play around like it is. As I look back at the way life taught me a lesson, I can't help but wish that it hadn't have happened in the form that it did.

On Tuesday, April 3, the night of my accident, I got into a fight with my grandma and begged her to let me go by myself in my car to dance practice. I told her I was going to pick up and drop off my best friend Sonya. After a lot arguing, she agreed on letting me go alone to practice in my car. Before I left, she told me not to go through the back road (a short cut because there was never any traffic) to or from Sonya's house. Well, picking up Sonya, I go the normal route.

After practice her and I head on over to Burger King, then to a nearby park to play some basketball. Around 9:00pm, we decide to head on home.

After dropping off Sonya, I do exactly what I was told not to do, and what I had promised not to do.

As I make my way down the windy, dark, narrow road, I get past a turn, but right after the turn, I see two sets of headlights coming at me, head on. The lights aren't very far from me. As a billion and one things run through my head, I pull my stearingwheel to the right and pull off the road onto a patch of dirt and rocks. I notice that I barely missed those cars, but... since I pulled so fast, I lost control attempting to get back onto my lane of the road. As I tried my hardest to regain control of my car, my attempts failed and I span several times. At last, after what seemed like a decade, my car came to a stop on the opposite side of the road. I took a deep breath and thought... "I made it... I'm ok". However, not even 5 seconds later, I feel my car sliding down into the ditch.

A million thoughts are running through my head, but mostly thoughts of what I might never get a chance to do or see. I kept thinking about how I might not be able to see my family again, and how I might not get to walk down the aisle at graduation. Suddendly, the car started flipping over. It happened so slow. I could see everything as the car was rolling over. As the car hit the bottem on my side first, I saw the windows shattering and so I closed my eyes. Over and over I thought about my family and what would happen when they would find out. I kept thinking, "What's going to happen to me? Are they ever going to find me?" because there was no traffic where I had my accident. Finally, when the car stopped moving, I was still upside down, but stepped on the brake, put the car into park, and shut it off. I took a deep breath and realized that my cell phone was in my left pocket. The odd thing was that before the accident, I had placed my phone in the cup holder, and if that wasn't odd enough, my pants had zippers on the pockets and they were closed. I took the cell phone out of my pocket and dialed home and told my grandma that I had been in a car accident coming from Sonya's house and then I hung up. Right after that, I dialed 911 and explained the situation to the dispatcher. He said to calm down because help was on the way. The worse thing was, that I did not know exactly where I was at. I told him what road I was on, but that I didn't know where exactly on the road, and that my car was in some sort of ditch.

The time of my accident was approximately 9:40pm. Around 10:00pm I heard the sirens of the ambulance and the fire engine. I hung up on the dispatcher and dialed Sonya and explained to her that I was in an accident. I turned on the lights to my car and flashed them on and off to signal to them where I was located. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the paramedics were there, and helping me get out of my car. The thing was, my car was wedged into the ground, and the doors were jammed shut, and I was stuck upside down, in the car, tied in because of my seatbealt. Finally, they were able to get me out of the car.

The first thing I noticed when I got out was the total mess of my car. I could not believe that this mess was MY car. The paramedics would not really let me look at my car, they were more worried about me, especially since I was covered in glass. However, the could not believe that I did not have a scratch on me. They had just asked me for my home phone number when my parents and Sonya got there. I could tell that they were really upset, and to be honest, I was more worried about them being mad at me than anything.

A few minutes later, the Sherriff got there and started asking questions to the paramedics, then went over to my grandma's van where I was sitting and asked me "What I had been drinking" and when I told him that I hadn't been drinking, he got irritated and told me that he did not believe me and that I needed to "drop the act". He then continued to state to me that I was either high on something or drunk and speeding at over 100mph. This really bothered me that he thought something like this from me, and that he would not believe me. Finally after several minutes he left, but only after citing me for careless driving.

It is now 4 months after my accident, and everything is going well. I'm still fighting the Sheriff in court, but I know everything will work out. I'm driving again and got a new car on May 2. Exactly 5 months after my first one. I still wont drive at night, and believe me, my driving has changed a lot. I believe that what happened to me, happend to teach me a lesson. It showed me that a car isn't something to mess around in and that life is precious. Don't throw your life away just to be having what you might concider "fun" for just a few minutes. You not only put yourself in danger, but others as well. I did not write this story out for you so that I sound like a preacher. I wrote it to tell you about how I learned a lesson and to try and prevent all of you from having to go threw what I went threw. Every day I am so much more greatful for what I have, and I thank God for giving me one of life's lessons.

Below you will find a few pictures from my accident. My seatbelt is what saved me, along with a little help from my Guardian Angel. Please be careful on the road.