Friday, October 31, 2008

The day I ALMOST died.

No, I'm not being overdramatic. I had a near death experience today. Lets cut to the story...

Almost everyday, I walk to the Mountain View CalTrain station, and today was no exception. I took my usual route, through streets I know like the back of my hand. I came to the intersection of Shoreline and Wright. Not a particularly busy intersection but there is a good amount of traffic that passes by. After I push the "walk" button, I wait for my turn to traverse the street. The gentleman in front of me jays across the street and I'm thinking how dangerous he was being on a rainy day like today, a car may not be able to stop in time to avoid him.

The cross traffic light turns red and I'm prompted to "walk". Like a zombie I just instinctively walk across the street. I mean, it was 8 o'clock, I was still waking up :P. I make it half way across the intersection when I hear some screeching coming from my right. I look over and a car is speeding down the street in my direction. I immediately froze and took a quick step back. The car grazes me and keeps speeding down the street. My immediate reaction was anger. How can someone be so careless to speed through a red light, thank goodness there was no cross traffic, he and the other car would've been in BIG trouble. Then it hit me... I could've just died. If I was walking just a tad bit faster, I would've been a goner. At the speed he was going (40-50mph) there wouldn't have been a chance for me to avoid him and I would've been his hood ornament for sure. I began to shake as I continued to walk toward me destination. At that moment I was absolutely thankful that I had been spared and it definitely shook my world.

Every day, every breath, every moment we have is a gift and in a snap it can be taken away. Me being here at this exact moment and time isn't a mistake. I need to make these moments count. Needless to say, I'm eternally grateful for being alive. I'll be looking 1,000 times both ways now while I'm crossing the street.

8 Comments:

Blogger ThomasHan said...

woah! I'm *so* glad to hear that you are OK!

Jean and I walk a lot, all over town, and this just reminds us how fragile we are against these 3000 lbs of metal that some people recklessly drives sometimes.

Thanks for sharing and it'll remind us to be extra careful on the road and to remember to be grateful of every moment we have.

Again, glad you're OK!!!!

Fri Oct 31, 10:12:00 PM PDT  
Blogger the misguided eskimo said...

omg- danvin! this EXACT thing happened to me in the city a few weeks ago -- all the traffic (2 lanes in both directions) had stopped at a crosswalk to let my bf and i cross the street, and as we were 3/4 across, my bf grabbed my arm and pulled me back, and at that exact second, an impatient driver went AROUND the bus that had stopped to let us pass--driving in the bike lane-- and SPED THROUGH the crosswalk, ALMOST HITTING ME - i felt my hair woosh from the speed, and he even had the audacity to HONK at us, as if we did something wrong!! i suddenly felt a sense of hardcore ROAD RAGE, like WTF?!!! until i realized that if peter hadn't grabbed my arm and yanked me back in that ONE SECOND, i would have been splattered all over the pavement.. and then it made me so much more grateful for the awesome way things work out perfectly - you know, in your case, I'm sure you had actual guardian angels look out for you, but in mine, my guardian angel was an actual human :P I'm just glad you're safe and alive!

Sat Nov 01, 10:49:00 PM PDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

D:

Sun Nov 02, 12:38:00 AM PDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A reminder to us all that we are sharing the road, and indeed the earth with some who are unattentive, careless and simply with no respect to rules.

Thank God, you are a margin more attentive than that driver.

We are glad you are OK

BTW, Check out my current sermon series,"If you had 30 days to live"
www.onemonthtolive.com

dad

Wed Nov 05, 06:06:00 AM PST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank God you are OK

Mom

Wed Nov 05, 06:06:00 PM PST  
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