Everything Turns Into Slow Motion

I was 6 years old and I remember being in the car for hours. My mom and my Tio Nico were taking us to Arizona to visit family, and we were driving from Salt Lake so that meant we would have left around 4am that day. I remember my mom and Tio’s goal was to make it there by at least 7pm for a family event. The back seat of my moms Buick had the felt seats, with the metal seat belt buckles and overly long straps, I remember the watermelon pine tree scent which became more strong the warmer it got. I remember sitting in the back and seeing my mothers long dark curly hair, playing with the radio trying to find a decent country station. My Tio Nico had his crisply ironed white shirt and his favorite black cardinals football hat that he would be wearing every time I saw him. My moms car, didn’t have any windows tinted and whenever the sun would start shining it would hit inside the car and immediately and it would feel like we were in a sauna. I wanted to lay down so bad, sitting in the car for that long, I had already completed all of my coloring books and had drawn every etch a sketch picture I could think of. I had a small mother goose toy, which you could put a tape into and she would start to read stories to you. I remember I had to conserve using it, to make sure the batteries would die; the goose although entertaining to me was not so much to my tio, and mother. It was extremely loud and she only told 4 nursery rhyme stories that was around 2-3 min long, being a parent myself I now know the struggle when it comes to loud toys.

We all wanted to get some food, but we didn’t want to stop and go inside to eat. We wanted it to be quick, so we just stopped through a burger king drive thru and was on our way again. Throughout the entire trip I sat in the middle of the back seat that way I could feel the AC and still be able to look at my mother and tio while they were driving. I remember every two to three hours I would ask them if I could take my seat belt off yet, or hit them with the famous “are we there yet?” As we were driving there were more houses on all sides of us, with the famous Pueblo Style homes that you see pretty much everywhere in Arizona. We were approaching a stop sign soon, and my mother finally gave me the go ahead to take off my seat belt grabbed my red Fanta I got from the burger king and watched as we came to a stop and then started driving forward. There was laughter and talking about who would all be at the family event; and I heard a loud crunch from one side of the car, and another from the other side.

It was as if time stopped, I felt myself lift away from the seat; the cold red drink falling on my shirt and shorts. It was as though I was flying to the front seat, I saw my mom start to lift from her seat and her head began to go trough the window in the front. I suddenly felt my Tio Nico’s elbow hit my chest so hard and made me fly to the back seat of the car where my head smacked against the back window. My Tio, had looked at my mother flying forward so he threw his arm to her chest which stopped her from completely flying through the window. While this was happening the airbag had not deployed for my Tio, so his other arm was trying to keep the car from flipping. It was as though we were on a spinning teacup ride from Disneyland, I could see the other two cars that had hit us at a complete stop. You could hear the tires running over the glass on the road and I finally felt the car stop spinning. I remember the feeling of ice on my legs, and my shirt and shorts soaked. I could hear in my the country song by Perfect Strangers playing “You Have The Right To Remain Silent”. My Tio got out of the car as soon as the main car that ran the stop sign approached the car as if we were in the wrong. Luckily the police showed up very quickly along with the paramedics. I remember my mother quickly climbed in the back and held me and asked if I was okay. She had a big cut on her forehead, which I remember she tried to wipe away so it wouldn’t scare me. The paramedics checked on my Tio, my mother, and me to make sure we didn’t have any life threatening injuries. They had suggested to my mom and Tio that they should go check in at the hospital to make sure there wasn’t something they just didn’t notice. They had made the choice to of course not go, there was a Paramedic who was so kind to me during all of this, telling me “everything was okay”. This was because When I got out of the car I looked at my clothes and started bawling, because I believed that the red all over my white shirt, and pink shorts was blood. I had three more events happen to me throughout my life where I had a near death experience, to which I had the same slow down effect. It’s definitely a scary thing to experience, but its also something that makes you appreciate every single day you have. Because you never know what tomorrow may bring. What are your experiences? Do you think that you’ll have the same experience if you were to ever have another experience like this again?

When you live in the present moment, full of curiosity, appreciation, and love for what is, you are truly living your best life. -Panache Desai

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.-Russel M. Nelson