Lesson Learned

a Narrative that we had to write in College bound comp

       I was running late to go pull rye, driving 65 miles per hour down a gravel road, and talking to Ashley on my phone while trying to find her house.  In a flash, I hit a soft spot in the sand on the road and lost control of my car. The next few moments were a blur, but somehow I ended up in the opposite ditch going the opposite direction.  That hair-raising experience changed my driving habits forever.
       I can testify right now that I have never been so scared in my life as I was then.  Realizing that I had absolutely no control over anything that was happening, scared me even more than the risk of getting hurt.  After the car stopped, I had to learn how to breathe again, and then I started laughing.  There was absolutely nothing remotely funny about what I had experienced, and I was scared to death, but for some, unknown reason, after I decided that I was alive, I started laughing.  Maybe it was just the sudden mix of emotions and a total freak-out.  
After about 5 minutes, I attempted to drive out of the ditch. Needless to say, the ditch was a whole lot muddier than I thought.  When it became obvious that I was not going anywhere, I turned off my car.  I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get my key out of the ignition, and I became worried that I had really messed up my car.  It was then that realized that in my panicky state; I had forgotten to put the car in “park.”  Feeling rather silly, I shifted the car into “park” and removed the key from the ignition.  Then I called Ashley back because I couldn’t imagine what was going through her head after I shouted a profanity and hung up.  

Me - “Hey, sorry about that.”
Ashley - “Oh my gosh, what happened!?”
Me - “Well I’m really not sure, but I’m kinda stuck in a ditch so could you so guys come pull me out?”
Ashley - “Where are you?”
Me �" “Almost to 100th Ave.”
Ashley �" “Okay, I’ll call dad and we’ll come try and get your car out.”
Me �" “Okay, sorry and thanks.”

      I got out of my car and tried to walk around it and check for damages.  The mud stuck to my feet like gum as I surveyed the car. As I passed each corner of the car, I would peek around the edge of the car, hoping to find no damage. Luckily, everything was fine, but really dirty.  
      When Dean, James, and Ashley got there, they all laughed and then tried to hook a chain to my car.  It was then that we found out that the only place that you can hook a chain without bending something happens to be the wheel axel.  Apparently, most of the front end of the car is made of plastic. What a pain in the butt! After what seemed like forever, we finally got my car back on the road. James pulled my car backwards up out of the ditch with the truck while I pushed the gas pedal with the car in reverse.  
    When my car was free, Dean said, “Wow, I am so amazed.”
    “At what?” I said.
    “At the fact that you wrecked you car and you don’t look pissed off at all.”
    “Well, I’m still so scared that words won’t even begin to form right now, and I am never doing that again!”
    We all drove back to their house and decided to thoroughly wash my car.  Dean even crawled under it to get the grass and mud out of the undercarriage. We even dried it with a beach towel.  Then, I made them all swear not to tell my parents. It turns out that they all kept their promises, because my parents didn’t learn about my accident until just a few days ago. Luckily for me, enough time had passed by then that they weren’t mad at me.
     Even without punishment from my parents, I did learn my lesson.  I will never drive that fast on a dirt road again. I don’t know if I am a slow learner, or if I just have a very thick head, but sometimes it seams to take a really scary experience to make me learn and stop doing something that is foolish. However, once I hit that point, it never happens again.  Kind of like when I got a speeding ticket… But that is a whole other story.

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[Harley Pratt]

So, Abby, have you gotten TWO speeding tickets, then? ;)