I am the oldest of my friends so I was the first to obtain my driver’s license. Once I started driving to school I would pick my friends up in the morning. Jamie rode with me quite a bit because we didn’t live too far away from each other. One morning in particular, I was running late as usual so I called Jamie to let her know I was in the driveway waiting. I was hurrying her along telling her we were gonna be late to school. She frantically rushed out to the car and hurled herself into the passenger street. I sped out of her driveway and out of her subdivision onto the highway. Just as I was pulling out Jamie realized she had forgotten her backpack in her house. I was irritated and frustrated because we were already late and I didn’t want to turn around. I asked her if she really need it that day? Well of course she did because we were going to school and it contained all her homework and books. I quickly pulled off the road so I could turn around. The fog was insane that morning. It hung really thick, close to the road and it was hard to see more than a couple of feet in front of the car. I had found a place to turn around and we were sitting at the turn-off to go back into the subdivision. After the last car passed I gunned it to turn in and as I was turning in Jamie I see a pair of feet scuttle out from beyond my car barely missing them. An older gentlemen had been crossing the road but we had not seen hime because the fog was so dense. When I say I was close to hitting him, I mean I don’t know how he didn’t feel the wind from my car. The thing was, he never realized he was almost plowed over. I, however was a mess and I was shaking and terribly upset. Being late to school didn’t seem to matter after I had almost run someone over. I just couldn’t believe it had happened and I realized how lucky we all were that we were being looked after.
We eventually made it to school. Of course we were late but at that point it didn’t matter to me, I was just glad we were all safe. I was still completely shaken up and upset. When I walked into my first class I sat down and got situated. Before I got too comfy the teacher called me up to the desk and told me I had to go to the office for being late. At that point I just broke down in tears in the middle of class. This teacher was pretty cool and I didn’t know it at the time but he was only kidding with me and wasn’t serious about the office. It was too late though, I had already gotten to my breaking point and there was no going back. He came over to let me know he was kidding and to see why I was so upset. I told him I nearly killed a man that morning.
Jamie and I joke about this day a lot but replaying it step by step in my head I remember all the emotion of the moment. I am very cautious on foggy days now will always look twice, if not three times.
thewoodsonway 