Near misses can happen in a flash
Since I like to feed my inner optimist, I thought I would write about the bad things that almost happen, but don’t. Those don’t get enough attention I think. Some near misses are as simple as you should have broken that glass when it dropped on the hard tile floor, but it didn’t. Some are more dramatic like car accidents that almost happen. But they are all unexplained moments where bad things could happen but they don’t. A few evenings ago, my husband and I had a frightening experience. It prompted me to create a new category today, Near Misses.
We were driving home after dropping off our Vespa at a repair shop in Mission Hills. As we approached a very busy intersection, the light turned to green and we advanced through the light heading straight ahead. All of sudden in a flash of an instant, a car came from our left hand side and flew in front of us, within just centimeters of our front bumper; it had ran the light and didn’t even appear to notice. Luckily, my husband was driving and reacted quickly, hitting the breaks and the horn. As the car slammed to a stop and the horn blared, I let out a high-pitched scream from the passenger seat, and watched as the car that ran the red light flew past us, and inexplicably didn’t hit anyone. It continued off into the distance without even hitting the breaks, or having the slightest care that they almost caused a serious multi-car accident. The car next to us pulled off to the side, and as we pulled up next to them we could see that they were shaken up too. They were just as amazed as we were that no one hit anyone, and no one was hurt. Why the car behind us didn’t slam into us, why the car to our left nor our car even had a scratch on it, is only explained by the fact that we have someone looking over us.
So today, I look back at that near miss and I think, how often do these little insignificant moments happen where the worst almost happens, but doesn’t? Those are the moments we should take the time to be thankful for, and recognize that sometimes the unexplainable can happen and life does give us little moments of gratitude.
We hear so many bad stories these days of terrible accidents, and yet how often do these terrible things almost happen, but don’t? Do you have a near miss story to share? Leave us a comment and tell us about it.
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Sometimes it’s only a matter of seconds between something catastrophic and a near miss. These are the times that remind us there is a higher power watching over.
I remember as we left the curb and started in the crosswalk (marked on the pavement and above with flashing lights). I asked my little girl to hold on to the stroller where her little brother was seated. At the middle she let go and started to race to the other side. I saw something in my peripheral vision and started to scream her name in terror: Allissssssssson!!She stopped and ran back to hold on and a large pick up sped in front of the stroller. It is a memory that is like a movie, only I can feel the cold air, see my little girl’s fright and feel the arms of strangers who rushed to escort us through the crosswalk. Yes, I feel an angel is near you. I am so thankful that you didn’t hesitate to listen to me that day. Love Mom
So glad you’re writing this series (I hope it’s going to be a series, not that I want to see a lot of near misses or anything, but they do happen and it’s always a powerful reminder of all we have to be thankful for). I just heard a near miss story yesterday. A young woman was driving on a freeway in Arizona this weekend when a semi truck that had not checked its blind spot, pulled in the lane in front of her. After already having been involved in a previous roll-over accident involving a semi, she reacted quickly and drove off the road. This time she did not flip or crash even though both of them were travelling almost 80 mph. The semi went on its way without knowing anything ever happened.
ok, so I guess my first near miss was as a small girl, thanks Mom for watching over me!
It is amazing when we look back on our near misses – if we had hesitated or been in that place at a different time how things could have been different. I do believe we have Angels watching over us and the hand of God.
Once I was stopped at a red light on a hill with a flatbed truck in front of me carring a steel I-beam. As I prepared to stop behind him something told me not to get close to him. Being on a hill he would have to roll back when shifting and when shifting the truck could buck being on a hill. Well all those things happened – the truck rolled back and jerk hard — so hard that the I-beam slid off the back of the truck. Thankfully I had stayed far behind the truck. Had I pulled up at a normal distance behind him to wait for the light the I-beam would have come through the windshield or worse.