i saw this story and thought holy shit i know how that feels. then it occurred to me that probably lots of people think they've come close to death at various points. what did you escape?
as for me:
age 5: jumped into pool unattended pool after one swimming lesson. dad saw me flailing out the window, ran out, and jumped in.
age 11: trying to hide the fact that i was chewing gum in mass (catholic school), it fell into my windpipe and i couldn't breathe. thinking that dying would be preferable to being punished, i opted to say nothing until i panicked and somehow miraculously hocked it up in what i thought was my dying breath.
age 15: swerving wildly in time with music on a desolate country road on the way to golf practice, i lost control and the car spun three times before wedging itself longways perfectly between two trees. the passenger and i were fine, but i broke the font axle on a relatively new BMW.
age 16: a group of us went swimming in a lake on a golf course in the middle of the night and the next day a guy shot and killed two alligators in the same lake. debatable how close to death i was here, i guess, but it was a bit disconcerting.
age 17: passed out on the median of I-85 outside atlanta at about 2am (longer story). woke up naked at dawn and had to find my clothes and hitch the last hour home. i actually did think i had died while i was passed out, but this might have been chemically induced.
age 20: driving a truck with a long, heavy trailer in northern virginia, i hit a patch of black ice causing the truck and trailer to begin spinning, the trailer eventually simply pulling itself parallel to the truck. incredibly, i just slid into a ditch with no harm to either the truck or trailer. a guy had to come pull me out since the snow was pretty deep, but once i was out of the ditch, i just drove home.
age 31: guy decided to merge directly into my car on a wet road, causing me to spin into the other lane and get broadsided by another car. thankfully, the other car was coming at the precise speed it was, allowing me to spin enough that he hit my passenger rather than driver side.
and of course the routinely stupid decisions i made: jumping from ludicrous heights into a rock quarry pool over the span of 6 or so years; drinking and driving when i was young and stupid, etc. looking at all the above, i'm starting to give more thought to the ideas of immortality, quantum suicide, and the multiverse.
anyway, how did you guys come close to death?
as for me:
age 5: jumped into pool unattended pool after one swimming lesson. dad saw me flailing out the window, ran out, and jumped in.
age 11: trying to hide the fact that i was chewing gum in mass (catholic school), it fell into my windpipe and i couldn't breathe. thinking that dying would be preferable to being punished, i opted to say nothing until i panicked and somehow miraculously hocked it up in what i thought was my dying breath.
age 15: swerving wildly in time with music on a desolate country road on the way to golf practice, i lost control and the car spun three times before wedging itself longways perfectly between two trees. the passenger and i were fine, but i broke the font axle on a relatively new BMW.
age 16: a group of us went swimming in a lake on a golf course in the middle of the night and the next day a guy shot and killed two alligators in the same lake. debatable how close to death i was here, i guess, but it was a bit disconcerting.
age 17: passed out on the median of I-85 outside atlanta at about 2am (longer story). woke up naked at dawn and had to find my clothes and hitch the last hour home. i actually did think i had died while i was passed out, but this might have been chemically induced.
age 20: driving a truck with a long, heavy trailer in northern virginia, i hit a patch of black ice causing the truck and trailer to begin spinning, the trailer eventually simply pulling itself parallel to the truck. incredibly, i just slid into a ditch with no harm to either the truck or trailer. a guy had to come pull me out since the snow was pretty deep, but once i was out of the ditch, i just drove home.
age 31: guy decided to merge directly into my car on a wet road, causing me to spin into the other lane and get broadsided by another car. thankfully, the other car was coming at the precise speed it was, allowing me to spin enough that he hit my passenger rather than driver side.
and of course the routinely stupid decisions i made: jumping from ludicrous heights into a rock quarry pool over the span of 6 or so years; drinking and driving when i was young and stupid, etc. looking at all the above, i'm starting to give more thought to the ideas of immortality, quantum suicide, and the multiverse.
anyway, how did you guys come close to death?
bonus drive-by truckers song with very appropriate lyrics:
Dropped acid, Blue Oyster Cult concert, fourteen years old
And I thought them lasers were a spider chasing me.
On my way home, got pulled over in Rogersville Alabama, with a half-ounce of weed and a case of Sterling Big Mouth.
My buddy Gene was driving, he just barely turned sixteen.
And I'd like to say, "I'm sorry", but we lived to tell about it
And we lived to do a whole lot more crazy, stupid shit.
And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet
With .38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band.
One night when I was seventeen, I drank a fifth of vodka on an empty stomach, then drove over to a friend's house
And I backed my car between his parents' Cadillacs without a scratch.
Then crawled to the back door and slithered through the key hole, and sneaked up the stairs
And puked in the toilet.
I passed out and nearly drowned but his sister, DD, pulled me out.
Dropped acid, Blue Oyster Cult concert, fourteen years old
And I thought them lasers were a spider chasing me.
On my way home, got pulled over in Rogersville Alabama, with a half-ounce of weed and a case of Sterling Big Mouth.
My buddy Gene was driving, he just barely turned sixteen.
And I'd like to say, "I'm sorry", but we lived to tell about it
And we lived to do a whole lot more crazy, stupid shit.
And I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Molly Hatchet
With .38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band.
One night when I was seventeen, I drank a fifth of vodka on an empty stomach, then drove over to a friend's house
And I backed my car between his parents' Cadillacs without a scratch.
Then crawled to the back door and slithered through the key hole, and sneaked up the stairs
And puked in the toilet.
I passed out and nearly drowned but his sister, DD, pulled me out.