The importance of a few seconds

It's amazing how fast things can change.

In a split second, I'm driving down the highway, chatting with my mom about something I can't even remember. The next second, this giant white car, a grandma car I call it, slips across the center line and comes barreling toward us. Both of us going highway speeds.

In that instant, I sort of freeze. I don't know what to do. My mom's not paying attention, trying to open up my air freshener that I just bought. She couldn't figure out how to get the package open. I can't say anything, I can't move. And then I snap out of it, I scream "Oh My GOD" and swerve off the road and halfway onto the shoulder. The giant white car swerves back into their lane, and continues on their way like nothing happened.

I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to go careen into the ditch in my new car, with my mom in the front seat and bags and bags of groceries piled in the back.

I made it home in one piece. The whole entire way home, I kept thinking. What if I had been going 60 instead of 59, would I have been there seconds earlier, right in that car's crosshairs. I would have had no time to react and would have been in a serious accident.

If my mom had taken just another minute in the pharmacy, we'd have been in the clear.

It just terrifies me how important just a few seconds can be. A few, precious seconds saved my life. I'm thankful for those few precious seconds tonight. Thanking God for those extra seconds.