When I was about ten years old my parents had taken me to a
hill to go sled riding with some friends, which turned into an experience I will
never forget. It was a frigid January afternoon and all of us had multiple
layers on to keep us comfortable in these conditions, at the top of the hill I stood
with my puffy dark green jacket on and eagerly joined my friends in the sled to
go down the hill. As you could imagine this repetitive process occurred for
quite some time until people gradually left to go home and my parents and I were
the last ones there. As we were leaving the sun had just went down without much
notice because of the big, puffy snowflakes blowing in the wind and making it
hard to see the hill we had just left and was not more than fifty yards from
out car. After we got into the car I was taking off my favorite white hat and
my numerous layers when I realized it was so cold out that my hands were still
cold enough to send a shock to my system when I put them on my cheeks. After we
had warmed up and gotten settled in the car my dad drove the car out of the
park, up a steep windy hill and stopped at the rustling, snow-covered stop
sign. To the left was a big bridge to cross over a river that passed through
the park we had just left and to the right I could see nothing but snowflakes
violently blowing around until faint yellow headlights would slowly peer out of
the white abyss. While we were sitting at the stop sign I remember the radio
saying “The roads are getting worse and worse by the minute, use caution if out
on roads and try to stay off the roads if possible”. My mom was very tense at
this point due to being caught off guard by this storm and worrying about other
drivers on the road, despite my father’s attempts at easing her nerves about
the drive. Once my dad was sure that the
road was safe to pull into, we turned left very slowly but enough to make my Gameboy
slide out of the seat next to me, onto the floor. We continued to accelerate
very slowly on the road and then I remember some commotion between my parents
that caused me to look up front and the rear view mirror caught my attention
because of the headlights approaching very quickly. The next thing I remember
is getting knocked forward very quickly and feeling my seatbelt press tightly
up against my chest, my Gameboy flying into my dad’s seat and after that I blacked
out for about a minute. After I woke up, all three of us were in shock and
slowly trying to grasp what just happened, figure out of any of us were hurt,
and to call 911. About ten minutes later I was still somewhat disoriented and
remember a faint siren and flashing lights approach our white dodge neon, the
EMT’s cut my dad’s yellow jacket off of him and take him away in the ambulance
to treat him for whiplash and check for any other injuries.
That's crazy snow can be a horrible yet magnificent thing. Hope every one was OK and I expect the other driver to learn from his/her mistake.
ReplyDeleteBad roads are really dangerous, so I hope everyone was okay. I have also been in situations where the roads get so bad even the best driver won't make it. The best you can do sometimes is stay home.
ReplyDeleteYou use great imagery in this exploration. I like your word selection in, "It was a frigid January afternoon and all of us had multiple layers on to keep us comfortable in these conditions, at the top of the hill I stood with my puffy dark green jacket on and eagerly joined my friends in the sled to go down the hill." This perfectly sets your time and place of the story, while using descriptive words to explain what you were wearing and how you felt. It allows your readers to paint a picture in their head. Great story writing!
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