Life Reflections After Two Close Calls With Death

Death is something that is very rarely spoken about in today’s culture. Despite the entertainment industry being flooded with violent movies, video games, and music, it is rare that you hear someone acknowledge the deeper elements that death plays in our existence as human-beings.

In many ways, our mortality is what makes us human. It can serve as an underlying motivation to care for those around us, pursue our higher callings, and embrace who we are in the moment.

When you look at the face you see in the mirror, or the people that you interact with on a daily basis, it is important to remember that they won’t be here forever. Even though sometimes that is hard to grasp, especially when you are young, it is the case for all of us.

Here are some reflections after two close calls with death.

The First Situation

The first situation occurred in late 2023. I was driving home on a Friday night when I got rear ended on the highway by a vehicle going over 100 mph.

I had seen the vehicle approaching in my rearview and went to pull off the road but the vehicle was approaching so quickly that it still clipped the back of my tailgate. The impact from the collision catapulted my truck forward, sending it toward a lining of trees. Thankfully, there happened to be a fire hydrant in the way that stopped the forward momentum of my truck, resulting in the vehicle rotating in-air and landing back on its wheels.

Based on the damage, you would have probably expected me to be much more injured than I was. As I was sitting in the truck afterward, I actually felt fine. My arm had several lacerations, as well as a broken clavicle, but I wasn’t really in much pain.

The ambulance came and scooped me up several minutes later. I was never given any further information as far as what had occurred during the actual accident. As far as we can see it was a hit-and-run, and it was left at that.

Recovery

As I was riding in the ambulance, I felt pretty confident that I was going to be fine. However, there was a moment where I realized that this could be it for me. To which my internal response was “if so, so be it“.

I ended up being okay. At first it appeared as though there was a laceration on my neck, and the girl in the back of the ambulance had initially called for an air lift, but thankfully that didn’t end up being the case.

I received great treatment at the hospital, stayed overnight, and went home that next day. It took me about 3 months to recover, and for a short time I wasn’t really able to use my left arm due to my clavicle. There didn’t end up having to be any surgeries either which was a blessing. And now 2 years later I can honestly say that my body has recovered extremely well.

The Second Incident

The second incident occurred almost a year later exactly when a tornado came through and devastated my community. Hurricane Milton had been heavy in the news and was being labeled as a Category 5 hurricane, but it seemed so far away that we weren’t expected to get much more than just some heavy rain and wind.

I was actually out in the garage at the time of the tornado. It had been raining for most of the day but that was about it. All of a sudden it felt as though the entire house was caught in the middle of a huge gust of wind. For a moment it actually felt as if the walls were about to get blown in. I popped out back to look out the window and the wind was so heavy it just looked like a big blur.

Once things calmed down, I immediately started making some phone calls. I managed to get in touch with my father who lives in the next neighborhood over, and as it turns out, the tornado had came through most of the area.

Cars were flipped over. Trees were knocked down on top of houses. Homes were blown apart. Roofs were completely torn off and laying out in people’s yards or the street. There was one house that was hit so hard that all that was left was just a corner. Thankfully everyone I know was okay, but there were a few deaths as well.

For the next 3 days I was so shaken up that I could barely get out of bed. I would lay in bed resting for most of the day, and occasionally get up to eat something. Dad was out working and helping people in the community, and came by a few times to drop off food for me. He really was a life-saver there.

Rebuilt

As it is now over a year later, I can honestly say that the community is almost entirely rebuilt and stronger than ever. I happened to come across a library book a few months ago talking about how “paradises” can be made out of situations like what our area went through. In many ways, that has turned out to be true.

When it comes to my community, I can look around at almost any person and know that we not only made it through the same thing, but that everyone was there for each other during that time. People went outside to help others clear out the tree limbs and debris from their yard. The local church was giving out food despite having a large part of their property damaged. Even the Hardware store that I worked at at the time was back up and running within days after the storm.

The Takeaways

As human beings we are much stronger than we realize. Even in the face of great adversity, we are able to overcome those challenges and even gain from them personally.

In the months after that first accident, my father was very big on reminding me of that. We sat and watched a movie together about a woman in her 60s that swam from Cuba to Key West. It took her 5 attempts, but on that fifth she finally got it.

At the time it felt like he was being unnecessarily hard on me, but as I can look back on it now I can actually be very grateful for it.

Remaining Grateful

As I get up each day, I can not only be grateful to be alive, but I can be grateful that I still have the opportunity to keep building on the life that I am living, and have motivation to do so. I am grateful that things were not cut short, and I look forward to continue to keep going and see what great things life has in store.

Final Thoughts

Death is not something to be overly afraid of. I remember as a kid talking to a man that was a Marine who was a family friend. At that time he had just gotten back from a deployment to Iraq. I asked him “don’t you get afraid that you’re going to die while you’re out there?’. He told me that he would rather die out and doing something with his life than just sitting around and getting old.

A life of cowardice is not true living. When you get up each day with purpose and meaning, you are able to transcend the fears that hold most people back, and that includes the fear of death.

Thank You For Reading

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope that you have enjoyed it. As always, I look forward to seeing you on the next one.