Things impact our lives everyday. Some bigger and more prominent than others.Sometimes a normal day can turn into on that you will never forget.

It was just the beginning of freshman year. Finally high school had started. My hair was still streaked from the sun and i was tan. Summer was fun but it was great to be back with my friends.

School was going well and my teachers all liked me. It was a Thursday day night and i was studying for my math test the next day. My dad was gone on a business trip. My mom and my little brother were watching one of the first Packer games of the season. My older sister came into my room and asked if i wanted to go with her to an away volleyball game. This was a big deal to me seeing that she never wanted to bring her little sister anywhere.

My mom was hesitant on letting me go because it was a school night and the game was pretty far away. My sister had gotten her license a few months ago and she loved to drive. This frightened my mother because she knew that teenagers were more liking to get in an accident. After we begged her to let us go, she finally said yes. As we pulled out of our driveway in my sister’s new car, my mom shouted to us, “ Be safe and buckle up!”

When we got there we met up with our friends and watched the game. We had a lot of fun cheering on our team. They won the game and we went crazy. I thought the night could not get any better.

After the game we had to bring my sister’s boyfriend home. He lived out of town so we cranked up the country music and turned onto the dirt roads.

We had just dropped him off and we planned to go back to our house which was on the opposite side of town. It was getting very late and we were expected to be home soon. I climbed over the seats to sit next my sister who was driving her cute new car. The music was still loud and we were barely out of his driveway. We were having fun, laughing and singing.

The front right tire hit a patch of loose gravel. We started to veer to the right. I was laughing, thinking that it was no big deal. Until we started going faster, that is when fear flooded my mind. The next thing i knew we went flying, rolling, tumbling into a ditch. Screams escaped our mouths. We were suspended upside down, held in by our seatbelts. Shattered glass covered my skin. But i was shaking with fear and it came right off.

My sister shouted over the music to unbuckle. She ripped the keys out of the ignition and pointed to the shattered window. I released the belt that had saved my life and fell to roof of the car. I crawled out of the shattered window. My sister went running to her boyfriends house to get help and I tried to grab things out of the car. I grabbed our wallets and phone and i turned off the music that still blared from the speakers.

When my sister returned with her boyfriends family, we sat in silence as my sister repeatedly apologized to my mom over the phone. My mom told her that she was on her way so we just sat there waiting from her.

It was one of the longest hours of my life and it was also one of the coldest September nights I have felt. I was shivering and I was super tired, by this time it was already 12:30. We sat in the ditch next to my sister’s totaled car.

Neither of us were hurt but we were both very scared. We were worried that our parents were going to be mad at us. But, to our surprise, when my mom arrived she was just happy that her two daughters were alive.

That day was one of the scariest days of my life. Ever since then I have been frightened by the sight of gravel roads and I never forget to buckle up because seatbelts save lives. In a teenagers first year on the road, they are almost 10 times more likely to be in a crash. That
being said i am always careful of who i get in a car with. That one day has impacted my life immensely.

Always remember that life is a gift and it can be taken away at any moment.