Strangers That Make the World Go Round: Part I

    Today, for the first time ever in a car, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Well, let me start at the beginning. This morning I went for a run. It was quite a long run and I took some back roads to get more mileage. While I was running I saw a car in the ditch. At that point I seriously wondered how in the world the car ended up in the ditch as, although last night was the first "real" snowfall of the season, while running it didn't seem too slippery to me.

    Later this morning while backing out of my driveway my car definitely skidded a little. As I went down the many hills around my house, I began to realize just how slippery it really was outside. I began to become extremely cautious and drove slowly, along with calling my mom asking her if there were snow tires on my car and telling her just how slippery it was outside. Immediately after getting off the phone with my mom I came across the hill where I saw the car in the ditch earlier this morning. When approaching the hill I put on my breaks knowing it was going to be hard to stop. I continuously put pressure on the breaks, but my car would not stop. Before I knew it, I was entering the ditch and I still could not get my car to stop. The car finally jolted to a stop, hitting a tree with a big "thump". The circumstance hit me immediately and I began to sob. I always knew I was a good driver. I'm always very cautious and have never gotten any tickets or into accidents for over a year since I began to drive. But here I was, in this ditch, in the back roads near my house, and I had no way out.

    I tried to calm down to call my mom so she wouldn't worry, but I ended up calling her sobbing anyway. I could hear the worry laced in her voice, but I told her to send my dad and that I was safe, not hurt. As I was talking to my mom a stranger pulled up at the top of the ditch. He came down through the weeds and knocked on my window. I opened the door, as he asked me if I was okay. I told him I was and he informed me that he could help me get out of the ditch. I took up his offer and he began to attach a connector to my car.

    I had never seen this man before, nor had I seen his truck. He was clearly a father; his son peaked over a seat into the back. The man probably had better things to do than rescue a "stupid teenage driver" from a ditch. Yet, through all of this, he spent his time to help me.