Life Coming At You At Seventy Miles An Hour

This morning I was driving along the 101 going northbound to school. After getting on to the freeway, I was trying to move to the left and pick up speed. As I looked back to check other lanes, a ladder came out of nowhere. I didn't have time to go all the way around it and ended up running over the ladder, doing a 360 and another 180. By the time I stopped, I was facing the wrong direction in the left most lane of the freeway. Shaking, I got out of the car, looked around and almost fainted. Luckily, a fire battalion chief happened to be driving by on his way to work, stopped and called in the accident. Four CHP officers total showed up to the scene, stopped all traffic, and moved my car to the side of the road. The only damage to my car consisted of a flat tire and possibly damage to the front suspension.

Wow, what a great way to start off the day. Although I wasn't injured and my car had minimal damage, I'm still shaking, four hours later. Whenever I'm driving, I always try my best to be a safe driver and be aware at all times but even the most prepared driver will run into (literally) little things at some point in their life. The moment I started losing control of my car, it was like time was moving ten times slower. Forget the stereotypical life flashing before your eyes moment. During those few seconds that my car was spinning uncontrollably, these thoughts went through my head:

1. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
2. I really hope I don't hit anything. I really, really hope I don't hit anyone or anything.
3. If there's damage, my mom's going to kill me.

The real question is why did these particular thoughts go through my mind at that moment in time? Thought #1 is obvious and expected when you feel like you're going to die. I don't even know how I had the time to think Thought #2. You'd think that there would really only be time for Thought #1. Thought #3 is based off of my past accident and the type of person my mom is. As soon as the car stopped, my mind went blank and I was in shock. I want to know why my life didn't flash before my eyes. Was it because I knew I was going to be okay? If that's the case, how did I know that? For all I know, another car could've hit me or I could've went flying into the freeway divider. I could've ended up seriously injured. With all these possibilities, I want to know, why was I not scared of being hurt? The weird thing about my little "360 trick" was that I don't remember what I saw. I can't recall what I was looking at or if I was still watching out the window. All I remember is those three thoughts going through my mind and then being jerked to a stop. If you had been me, what would've gone through your mind? Would you have similar thoughts? Or would you have actually had that "life flashing before your eyes" moment?

All I can say now is that I am so thankful that I'm okay. I have a new appreciation for firefighters and police officers. Everyone who helped me this morning was kind and understanding. I'm especially thankful to the fire chief who just happened to be driving by at the same time. Also, I now am deathly afraid of ladders...