Sunday, November 24- I'm not dead yet...

I'm starting out by saying, I'm ok. But after you see the pictures you might find it hard to believe. God had his hand on me today. That's all there is to it. There is no amount of luck that could have done what He did.

Parker, Ze Germans, and I went on an adventure this morning to a rally car event. The Hawkes Bay Motor Club was holding a qualifying event just up the road from the farm and after seeing all the vehicles pour past us on the way to the start there was no way we were staying put. So off we went in the Prado up the gravel road and spent an hour or so watching vehicles with popping engines scream past us as they rounded wild corners and sprayed metal, the kiwi word for 'gravel', everywhere. The sheep were not impressed. 

We were in high spirits as we piled into the car and headed home. I mean, really? How could you not be? Fast cars people. Fast. Cars. 

I was happily journaling on my phone in the front passenger's seat when I felt the back of the car staring to slide out. I went on alert and I looked up. We weren't going particularly fast but as I saw the bank of the left side of the road approaching, I realized that 5 miles per hour would have seemed too fast because we were in a slide and I knew there was amount of braking that would save us.

The corner and swerve marks.

I've been in one other major accident. It happened in college when Jackie and I were coming home for Christmas break. Long story short we swerved to miss a deer that was in the road, got thrown into a spin, and were hit in the wheel well of the driver's side by a semi-truck. It was a miracle that we walked away from that one with our lives. I feel the same way about this.

It's strange. There came a point in the slide when I knew that we were going to hit the bank and rather than tense up and panic I relaxed. I can't really explain it. I just felt that I needed to be as loose as possible RIGHT NOW, so I did. And then we hit and the world turned upside down. I blinked slowly and just tried to breathe. Airbags deployed. Glass rained. I heard the muffled sound of bending metal. Hoped that we were not trapped. And then...we stopped. I opened my eyes and looked around.

We were upside down. “Is everyone ok?” I called out searching for my seat belt. It was locked tight.“Guys? Everyone still in one piece? “Ya, Ve are ok,” said one of the Germans from the back. “Shit,” said Parker. “Ah, shit.” My head whipped to the side expecting to see something sprouting from his chest. There was nothing. “What? What's wrong?” My eyes searched for injuries. “Are you OK?” “Yeah,” He said, gathering himself. “I'm ok.” “Ok.” GET OUT OF THE CAR. As I fumbled with my seat belt I thanked God that it actually worked. My window had blown out and I know that I would have been outside somewhere if I had been without it. My hands went up to the ground and pushed releasing the pressure on the buckle. I clicked it open and set my feet on the ceiling getting my bearings and then scrambled up and out of my window. There was a man coming towards me. I looked across the road and saw that a car had pulled up. A woman was following him. People started emerging from the our car like rats out of the sewer, being helped out by the man and his girlfriend. As they came out I inspected them for cuts and foreign objects, but apart from one cut thumb and my scraped left knee, everyone was fine. The car on the other hand was fucked.

“Craig is going to kill me,” said Parker as we piled into the couple's car and headed home. I laughed. “At least we're all ok. That's what's important.” As I watch the sun go down tonight I'm happy to report that Parker is still alive, my knee suffered no lasting damage and the thumb was just a decent scratch. For all of you who have been praying for me, I just want to say thank you. You better believe I'm counting my blessings tonight.