On this day, 20 years ago, I learned to fly. Not with wings. Not with an airplane. Not even with a hot air balloon.
I still remember the feeling of completely letting go and accepting whatever happened next. It came seconds, if even, after passing a salt truck and wondering why in the world it was out. It was just raining.
It wasn’t just raining as the elevation change.
The small pile of ice slush on the left edge of my windshield caught my eye, and
I hit the patch of ice.
My back tires went left. My front went right.
I caught it and lost it. Spinning the opposite direction.
I hit the incline.
The ground went down.
I and my truck went up.
Sky. Snow. Grass.
Sky. Snow. Grass.
Sky. Snow. Grass.
I had gone into the air and rolled three times into a field, landing on the passenger side.
I knew I needed to get out.
I grabbed what I could. Books had gone flying all over inside. I am pretty sure I grabbed my phone and purse. I climbed up and out my window.
I remember thinking “hot” and “balance” as I looked down my undercarriage. I jumped to the top side.
I came around my truck to find another one, a bigger gray one spun halfway down the hill and a man walking towards me in shock. He said something about not being sure what he was going to find.
I never did learn who he was.
He drove me to the nearby farm house.
There I learned this happens in that spot every year, sometimes a couple times a year.
My brother came. I must have called him. So, I must have grabbed my phone. I still can’t remember if it was Carrie or Summer with him.
Was sure I was fine. But, then realized I couldn’t remember my answers to questions I knew I had already been asked.
See, my seatbelt held me securely in place. But, the back of my head repeatedly smashed the back window. I had glass stuck all through my hair.
“Okay, call the ambulance “
The first first responder appeared with an awful expression. I owned the same vehicle as her son. She was actually shaking more than me. I wasn’t so keen on her holding my neck.
I learned a couple things about myself with that ambulance experience. I have great difficulty giving up control. I have a very difficult to find heartbeat.
Off to the hospital for 13 days and cat scans. I refused the pain killers they tried to give me. I was convinced I was fine.
Concussion
Home I went with orders not to sleep. How different that would be now with what we now know about concussions.
My brother and someone else watched me through the night. I can’t remember who was there.
I never stalled the truck.
I couldn’t put my hair in a ponytail for a year. It still acts up some times.
Sometimes, I think if I were a cat this would have been one of my nine lives.
Sometimes, I think this was Gods way of redirecting me.
I hope my regular readers don’t mind the modern focused post. That day my Grandma was in an accident as well as a friend and coworker, who was in a far worse one. I am think of both today too.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
Thank God you survived and are all right.
Thankful you made it through that ordeal.
Terrifying. Very glad you survived, and thank you for a look at who you are as a person.