Just Got a Huge Gift

Yesterday was terrible and horrible but it was a miracle. It was four days before my 30th birthday. We sent my sister to Davao airport on her way back to Manila and after that the journey back home started. I can still remember how i swerved the steering wheel, how i held on tight to it, and how hard i stepped on the brakes to stop the car. The Hyundai SUV i was driving took a little more that 180 degrees turn off the road, hit a concrete barrier and cut down a good tree. As i was thinking of that thing that every driver evades on the road, i pulled all my strength and tried really hard to prevent the accident from happening, having in mind the other two lives i am carrying. After we skid and bumped and turned and bumped again, i found myself holding tight to the wheel-even tighter, face down. A moment passed after we came to a stop, i lifted my head, saw the windshield covered with branches of the tree i hit and saw my hood popped open a little, steam coming out of it. I immediately checked on my mother who was sitting at the back and my father who was sitting in front. As other motorists stopped and came to check who was hurt and offered help, only then that i realized I just had an accident - we just had an accident.

We all got out of the car and carefully checked ourselves for possible wounds, damaged bones or bruises - there was none. The radiator broke and bent, lights shattered, oils and water leaking, and some more crucial parts damaged that i have to call for a towing truck to bring the car back to the city. As usual, police came to investigate (which by the way was very helpful), and i got invited to the police station for the blotter report. When i came back to the site, the tension subsided.

Everything happened so fast, so fast that i lost account of what happened during that time.

As i stood near the big tree, which is by the way is just next to the tree we hit, i had a moment to reflect and realized that we are beneficiaries of a miracle. We came out bruiseless after the severe impact. I was driving towards the south direction but after the accident the car was facing the north, can you imagine that? Thank God - he was there to preserve our precious lives. Some said we were lucky, but coming out bruiseless and breathing is more than just lucky, i call it miracle and miracle happens, indeed.

We arrived home late at night, tired and scared and God knows what else. Words were not enough to describe that kind of feeling. As i sat on the couch, tears rolled down my cheeks, everything started to sink in my memory in its second-by-second account and everytime it flashes back in my mind, it leaves me a violent and irregular heartbeat. I am horrified thinking of the other worst things that could have happened. Now i just have to deal with my trauma which i wish will end soon.

I am just so thankful that our lives were spared - to me, it was already a huge birthday present.