It was November 12th, 1998, and it was an unseasonably cold, fall day in Racine. Nothing led me to believe it would be anything other than a normal day, except for the fact that it happened to be my friend's birthday.

I was on my way to the store to finish up some last minute shopping in preparation for a small surprise party that we would be having later for my friend. I had to make one more stop, and then I would be heading home to get ready for cake and ice cream with my friends. By the looks of things, there were not many people out, and there were very few cars moving around town. Other than the cars parked along the sides of the road, it was as if I had the road to myself. I had been driving for a little over a year, a

been wearing my seatbelt. Without it, I would have surely been launched through the shattered windshield upon impact. As it was, I had only slightly hit my head on the steering wheel, bruised my knees from the dash board, and bruised my shoulder from the belt strap.

In the seconds to follow, all of the stories that I had heard of time slowing to a crawl, and of one's life flashing before their eyes during an accident, came true. The other oncoming traffic and parked cars made swerving out of the way impossible, so I was forced to go straight ahead. A feeling of pure terror overwhelmed me as I slammed on my brakes hoping to be able to stop. Unfortunately, there was not enough time or distance between us for me to stop, and we collided.

The other driver was cited for the accident and was walked to his home, which was just right down the street. I accepted the officer's offer to drive me home and sat quietly the entire trip. I had to figure out some way to tell my father that our car had just been totaled. What a horrible day it had turned out to be. During the wait for the police and the drive home, I had plenty of time to look back and replay the incident over and over in my head.

only thing that I know for certain is that, in the next few moments, I realized exactly what I had been taking for granted all along.

After this experience, I soon realized that death actually is a part of life. However, I didn't want it yet; I enjoy living and don't want that part of life to occur yet. I haven't lived very long, but I do know that life is a series of ups and downs, peaks and valleys. You have to learn to embrace those peaks and live through those valleys, if you want to be happy. At first, I could only see this accident as being negative, but almost immediately after it occurred, I saw it as having a lot of positive outcomes. I often look back to this point in my life, and see how much I have changed since then. Most importantly, I realized how special the gift of life truly is, and how I should cherish it more than

Some common words found in the essay are:
, front jeep, life slow, drive home, taking granted, soon realized, gift life,
Approximate Word count = 1385
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)