How quickly a life can change

Saturday night a friend and I went to Maceys to get some un-salted butter so I could make lemon squares for dessert night on Sunday. My friend was driving and I was sitting in the passenger seat telling her which way to go. She got onto Hwy 6 however, and then told me she didn't know where she was going. We were headed South on Hwy 6 and I told her to turn East when she got to Center St. The light had turned yellow when we went through it. As we were going through it, I saw headlights coming right for me and then I didn't see them anymore. I was turning to tell Manda that I couldn't believe we missed that, when I felt us jolt and start spinning. The sound was horrendous. I hit my head on the window and the next thing I remember is Manda asking me if I was OK. I couldn't answer her the 1st time for some reason, but when she asked me again, I told her yes and that my head hurt. I heard a man's voice from behind me ask if we were ok. When I turned to answer him, I noticed that the back end of the car was gone. The entire trunk was gone. He told us to call 911. While I was on the phone with 911 I realized that the truck and trailer that had hit us rolled down the ditch. After I got off the phone with 911, I got out of the car and tried to call my parents. After you call 911 they lock your phone so they can know exactly where you are. There is a way to unlock it; however, you need to be lucid to do so. You have to press * then #. I couldn’t comprehend this however. I kept pressing * and freaking out that it wasn’t working. All I wanted to do was call my parents to let them know I was OK. Then I saw that it told me to press # so I started pressing that and once again got very irritated that it didn’t work. Finally someone told me that I had to press one then the other after. I would like everyone to know that I was extremely calm until my mom answered the phone. At which point I totally lost it. I started bawling to the point my mom had to tell me to calm down because she couldn’t understand me. After I got off the phone, an EMT came up and noticed that I had my hand on my head and asked if I hurt it. I told her I hit it on the window and she took me into the ambulance to check it out for me. It was then that I found out that everyone was OK, even the horse. I was the one with the most injury. Just a small laceration on my head and that was it. Walking back to the car and looking at it, I realized that had he been moving any faster, or we been moving any slower and I would have been killed on impact. That thought alone is quite sobering. A friend and I were talking about it on Sunday. I asked him, “How would you have found out? How long do you think it would take to travel?” I only asked it because you don’t think about those things until it almost becomes a reality. 5 more feet. That’s all it would have taken and I wouldn’t be here right now. It makes you wonder, what would people say about the life you lived? What would people have said about the example I was to them, or lack there of? I’m not perfect and I realize that, but what would have been under the breaths of some? Something that I’m glad I have had the second chance to change. My new motto is Carpe Diem. I’ve already been living it, and I love it.