Close Brush With Death…
Honestly, This Might Be One of My Closest…
Over the years, in my life, I have had a lot of close brushes with death, from being swept under a rock in fast rapids to getting tangled in high-tension power lines while skydiving.
And sadly enough, there are others. All of which start with me saying, “I thought it was a good idea at the time.”
But yesterday, I had a very close call and I wasn’t even doing anything stupid. (go figure)
Kris and I were headed down to the Arts District to have lunch at a favorite restaurant.
We pulled into a diagonal parking spot, nose of the passenger side of our sedan into the curb.
We both got out and I was standing facing our car, my back to the street, locking the car, when suddenly a very intense smashing sound exploded directly behind me. No describing it. Extremely loud, let’s just say.
I jumped toward the curve and turned around and a large generator that was being towed by a truck had come off the hitch of the truck, swerved toward the left and smashed into the back bumper of the car two over from me, shoving that car sideways and almost into the one next to it. And our car.
If that had been a fraction of a second later, or turned just about two inches less than it did after it got lose, it would have missed the car it hit and smashed into my back going about 40 mph and made me paste against our car. And I never would have seen it coming.
The truck sped off, leaving this massive generator and a smashed car, so my guess they were stealing it and didn’t have it connected correctly.
Even more frightening, two teenage girls were in front of our car and were about to go around and get into the car that was hit to get something out of it. A few seconds later and one of them might have been killed.
Within inches of death once again. I now have another story, but not as exciting as getting trampled by Texas Longhorns. No scar from this one.
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11 Comments
Cheryl
Just….whoa.
Very glad for whatever elements of the universe or happy chance or alert senses kept you from becoming paste.
It cannot help but bring to mind a trip home from McCall (to Boise) some many decades back. It was January. I was driving the truck, learning ‘stick’ on the fly because my husband at the time had dropped a gun on its butt and it had discharged, severing a bone in his forearm. As can be the case, we’d had to stop for some sort of blockage and were several vehicles back. We both got out to stretch, me on the driver’s side. It’s a little fuzzy in memory, but a few moments later a vehicle creeping forward the other direction on the icy surface slid gently to within an inch or so of our truck.
So there’s that.
Life now is a lot better than life then. Glad I lived to see it.
So, will this be story fodder for tonight? Or will you let it percolate a bit?
dwsmith
I never know when something is going to come up in a story. (grin) On that road from McCall to Boise back about forty years. The narrow two-lane part right above Smith’s Ferry, harsh rapids on the left going toward Boise. That was where I got sucked into an eddy on the far side of the river and got pulled under a massive outcropping of rock. Luckily I didn’t get stuck and I came up about a hundred yards downstream in the calmer waters.
Kate Pavelle
Wow. I’m relived nobody got hurt, although a close brush with death leaves its own mark. I had my own and I find that every so often, when I think back to it, it weighs on me more than it should.
Had you perished, writers from coast to coast would start destroying portable generators in a fit of revenge. (And the readers would join in, it being a sensible thing to do.)
David Phifer
Wow, Dean! What a freak accident. And all because of someone who was most likely trying to steal the generator. It really puts life into perspective. It wasn’t something crazy or death-defying that you were doing, it couldn’t be forseen and prevented. I know I can speak for everyone when I say we’re all grateful you’re okay.
Earlier this year I was going 70 mph onthe expressway when my back tire broke, sending me spinning into a cement barrier, but miraculosuly doing very little damage to me or the car. I expected the car to flip and to die and mentally prepared myself. But I was also disappointed that I didn’t come away with any powerful revelation about life.
Did this brush of death move you or touch you in any way that the others haven’t, since it wasn’t your doing and just a compelte freak accdident?
dwsmith
At 71, and after so many close calls and strokes and such over the years, I am pretty solid on death. Like to avoid it as long as possible, thus all the exercise and teaching and keeping my mind as sharp as possible. But I don’t think about it much. I am in the generation that we never expected to live past thirty. So last forty-plus years has been a bonus. (grin)
Kat
Fecking hell, Dean. Glad you, Kris, and the teenagers were all OK! What a world. Lot of reminders lately that life is very precarious.
Alexander
That’s horrible!
Glad nobody got severely hurt or killed.
Wonder if that driver ever got busted.
Laura Eaton
Wow! What a scary story. I’m so glad you, Kris and everyone else involved are okay. A random event like this reminds us to cherish each day of our lives because it can be over in a moment without warning.
Rob Kerns
Grats on coming through it with just a story, instead of an injury or worse!
Deb
OMG!!! So glad you all were ok. How many cat lives do you have left? Let’s try to conserve those, ok? You need a few left when you are 100. 🙂
Desikan
Scary to hear this…
Glad that Dean and others survived.
Just a reminder for someone like me that Life is too precious and cannot be taken for granted and should be explored fully every moment on this planet.