A Near Miss

They called it a near miss, but I called it a miracle. It was a warm August evening. Since the next day looked hectic, I decided to buy groceries that evening. I wrote a quick list and headed to the car.

While I shopped, it started raining. “Please Lord, stop the rain before I drive home,” I prayed. I drove home pleased that the rain had stopped and I had one less job to accomplish the next day.

I turned onto our road thinking, “Only five more miles and I’m home.” Suddenly, the car started sliding, and then spinning. I screamed, “Help me, Lord!”

Instantly, I saw the faces of my husband, my son, my parents, and my brothers’ reel before my eyes like a movie screen tape. I thought, “I’m going to die.”

I blacked out and awakened in the back seat. My head, neck and arm hurt, but thankfully, I was alive.

Water started seeping in. After trying unsuccessfully to open the back window, I climbed into the front seat. I leaned on the front door but it refused to open. I was trapped.

I fell onto the steering wheel sobbing. This caused the horn to honk. I decided to continue laying on the horn. Two cars passed by without stopping. The third one stopped.

A young man opened the door, pulled me out, sat me in his car and then called an ambulance at a house near by. Upon arriving, the paramedics wrapped my head, put a brace on my neck and put my body on a stretcher.

The car was totaled, but besides eight stitches in my head, a chipped neck bone and many cuts and bruises, I was fine. Many people told me, “You just missed a telephone pole. You almost died.”

They called it a near miss, but I called it a miracle. The policemen called it “a worm slide.” And after that, my church family called me “Crash Kingsbury.”