Scariest Moment In Your Life? (And if applicable, how did it resolve itself?)

I still want to hear the story behind YOURS.

 

Driving drunk at 25 going 135; yeah I know stupid, certainly not proud of it

One other time, was driving drowsy (not drunk) and at 2 am woke up on the off ramp with no idea how I got there.

Or maybe it was the time my GF's mother caught us in bed (I was 20); not life threatening but damn scary.

 

The night I was working the desk and got a phone call from my aunt Shannon, telling me to "get to the hospital now." That's all she told me and I asked her what was going on but because she was an employee of the hospital, she couldn't tell me over the phone. All she said is "it's your mom."

I stopped what I was doing -- I think I was working on a prep soccer or volleyball roundup -- and told my boss that I had to leave and get to the hospital. He asked me what was wrong, and I told him I wasn't sure, just that something is wrong with my mom.

I got in my car and drove to the hospital, which, thankfully, is just a minute or two up the road from where I work. I walk into the ER area and ask a nurse where my mom is. I walk in just as the doctors closed the curtain and all the machines she's hooked up to start going berserk -- a viral infection had attacked her heart, and they weren't sure if she was going to make it.

The nurse, who worked with my mom as an EKG tech at this hospital, had to drag me out of the ER and into the waiting area. My family finally arrives and my step dad goes in the back to be with my mom. I stood in the waiting room with my sisters, who were 12 and 8 at the time, and my grandma and aunt and my uncle Shawn.

David, my step dad, came out of the waiting room and told me mom had flat-lined -- not once, but twice -- as the doctors were working on her, but they were able to bring her back. They had to basically kick him out of the ER so they could do as much as they could in the ER before moving her to an operating room upstairs.

While David and my grandma take care of my sisters, I go to my car. I can't stand seeing my family like this, and I have always tried to be the one other people lean on -- not the one crying when stuff like this happens. I sit there for a few minutes asking God why this would happen and what's going to happen with her. I'm mad, and Shawn gets in my car and gets me to calm down a bit.

Eventually, I find my mom's phone and start calling people to let them know what's going on. I call some people from my church, and a few of them came to the hospital to be with my family (that's something I will never forget) and I call some of our other family members and some of her friends. I get in touch of Jackie, who my mom has known since they were kids. She lived in Georgia, but drove to Kentucky that night and stayed at our house the next few nights to help me take care of my sisters.

After I've called everyone I can think of, I call the girl I was talking to at the time. We were supposed to go on our first date that next night, which was Friday. I start bawling before she answers and she asks me what's wrong. I say 'I'm sorry, Whitney, but I have to cancel our date' and tell her what happened. I had big plans for that date, too, but she was more than understanding and even offered to come to the hospital and see my mom -- whom she hadn't yet met. I told her that wasn't necessary and that I would make it up to her when I could.

Around midnight, with about 30 of my family members and folks from my church crammed into a small waiting room, the doctor who operated on my mom comes and in says she's doing as well as can be for the night. They put a balloon in her heart and a stent in her leg and were planning to send her to Louisville the next morning for more surgery. I take Jessica and Kasey home and get them in bed and then lay down in my room, but can't sleep.

Then, I hear a familiar voice. It's my grandpa. To this day, I believe he was in my room -- and my sisters' rooms -- checking on three of his grand kids. He told me that everything was going to be OK. He met my mom in Heaven and said God sent her back because it wasn't her time.

The next morning, we get the best news possible: mom doesn't need surgery and the infection is under control. While she was in the hospital, the nurses on her floor would let me in to see her after I got off work each night. I'd spend 10 or 15 minutes there before leaving.

She was home in a week. And every day I'm thankful she was working at the hospital that day, because the doctors told us the outcome might not have been the same had she gone home instead of having Shannon take her to the ER.

I knew things were going to be fine when I came home from school one day and heard her yelling at my sisters to clean their rooms.

 

I was in Spain, for the Fiesta De San Fermin - the running of the bulls. The start of the festival is a ceremony in the Pamplona town square. We were told it would be very crowded, and to get anywhere near the square, we needed to be there by 10 a.m. (the festival begins with a ceremony at noon).

My girlfriend and I arrive at 10, and the square is very crowded already. You can move about fairly freely on the edges of the square, but it is far too crowded already to get anywhere into the middle. No big deal though - we settle not too far from one of the buildings that form the back edge and expect to wait a while. Meanwhile, the crowd is growing ever larger.

At around 11, we realize it's getting uncomfortably crowded. People have become so pushed against us that it's difficult to move. We decide we'll just watch the proceedings from one of the nearby, but not in the square, bars that were simulcasting the event. We quickly realize, however, that we cannot escape. The crowd has grown so dense as to make free movement impossible.

I have my arms wrapped around my girlfriend, who is getting a bit panicked at the inability to get out. I try to reassure her that it's no big deal. We'll stand here, packed in but still OK, and when the ceremony ends, we'll get out. About 10 minutes later, the crowd begins to do something akin to waves in an ocean. It just kind of begins to pulsate. I'm not sure where this starts, or why, but the crowd suddenly begins pushing itself in one direction, carrying everybody 15 or 20 feet. Then it reverses and carries you back the 15 or 20 feet you just covered. Keep in mind, we have no control at this point - we are so squished in between people, and there are so many people, that there's no fighting this.

This continues for the next 50 minutes. I know, because there was a clock tower above the building where the ceremonial firing of the rockets marks the beginning of the festival.

Anyway, with my arms wrapped around my girlfriend, I try to push people off her at least enough that she can continue to breath, which is becoming difficult. She is several inches shorter than me and complaining that the hot air at her level is suffocating. I'm taller, so I can get the fresh air above the level of the crowd, but just to look down at her, I can smell the stale, thick air she must breathe. It is awful.

The crowd continues to pulsate, and at one point I am lifted up between people and pinned with my feet a few inches off the ground. I can literally pump my feet like I'm running and hang there without touching ground, that's how crowded it is. A woman nearby actually passed out, with her friends trying their best to hold her up so that she did not fall and get trampled to death. Her tongue hanging out of her mouth as her head bobs aimlessly back and forth is an image I'll never forget. Of course, the good thing about the tremendous crowd is that it is so thick, there was no way she was ever going to fall and be trampled.

My girlfriend is growing more and more anxious, struggling to breathe in the hot air at her level. I try to reassure her as we progress toward noon that once the rockets fire and the ceremony ends, the crowd will dissipate. She's concerned that the opposite will happen, and that the rockets will only draw more people into the square.

Finally, noon arrives. The mayor of Pamplona walks onto the balcony of the town hall, says a few words and fires the rockets. The crowd roars. And then, just as suddenly as we found ourselves pinned into the crowd, we were free. It was the most inexplicable thing - one second we were pinned and couldn't move of our own free will, the next we were able to weave about the crowd and make our exit.

It may not sound like much, but it was the scariest moment of my life. Between being unable to move or control where I was, the tremendous crowd in a region of Spain known for terrorist attacks, and the possibility of being trampled to death, I spent those 50 or so minutes worried out of my mind, but trying to remain calm for the sake of my girlfriend. About two weeks after I returned to the US, I actually had a panic attack and went to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack (another of my concerns in that crowd - what if I have some medical thing come up suddenly? I'll never be able to get out of here for help). Eventually, I went to a counselor who said I probably had a very minor form of PTSD. To this day, I have a bit claustrophobia around big crowds, or getting stuck in traffic, or flying, which I'd never had before.

Anyway, that's my scariest moment.

 

Had a few:

* Lived on the street in San Bernardino, CA for a week when I was 19 (1983). I found a secluded carport to catch some sleep at nights when possible, while napping on park benches during the day.

One night, as I was about to cross the street to my carport, a large black man approached me and asked me if I was gay.

Seeing that my new home wasn't to be, I walked up and down the busiest streets all night, nursing Pepsis in the shops that were open 24 hours.

After standing in the park, staring up at a billboard and thinking nobody could get me up there, but deciding against it because I sleep walk, I chose some bushes about half a block away in front of a Mexican Restaurant. As I tried to get comfortable, a patrol car rolled up, stopped at the billboard, and hit the spotlight.

Next night, I met a couple who introduced me to Christ and began the arduous process of getting my life together.

Honorable mention:

* Two friends and I stood on my porch on the Eastside in Riverside, CA (check the demographics on citydata.com) one night, we see a car move slowly up the side street before cutting the lights. The car turned the corner and all we see is the yellow gunfire aimed at the house two doors down.

The neighbor who lived there came running out of the house, stopped in my yard, and fired back at the speeding car.

* Walking with one of said friends home from downtown Riverside when we got into a disagreement. He took off and left me walking alone.

About six blocks from home, three black guys were walking my way. They stopped, surrounded me and asked what I was doing in that part of town.

Thinking fast, I said I was going to my friend Shawn Jones' house (he lived across the street from me). Don't know to this day why I didn't just say I lived there, but someone must have been looking out for me. I asked if they knew him, and one of them said, "Yeah, I know him." They let me go after that, presumably to clean myself up when I got home.

 

I was at work and talking to my wife on the phone as she drove to the store (she was using hands-free, by the way) we're talking and all the sudden I hear screeching brakes and a crash. I kept calling back, but didn't get an answer for what seemed like an hour, but was really just a few minutes. I was pretty sure I'd just listened to her die.

Finally a woman answers her phone and asks if I'm her husband. I said yes and she said I should get down there and gave me the intersection. Some guy ran a red light and t-boned her. She survived, and somehow didn't even have any broken bones, but was in the hospital for a couple days with a severe concussion and memory loss. It eventually mostly came back to her, though she really doesn't remember anything about that day or being in the hospital. There are still times when her mind just goes blank for a minute, something that NEVER happened before.

 

Survived a tractor fire as a teenager with third degree burns on one of my legs. Still have the scars. But if I'd jumped right, instead of left, I'd be dead. Parts from the engine were found embedded in a tree about 30 feet to the right after it exploded. Looking down and seeing flames covering your leg is not a pleasant memory. Nor is the smell of charred flesh.

Working at a bar in grad school, I ask a drunk guy who was harassing people to leave. He pulls a knife and stabbed me in the arm. All hell broke loose after that as I damn near killed him. The fight didn't scare me. My blind rage did. As did the questioning by the cops and the emergency room doctor saying I should be tested for HIV.

When my wife went into labor, the doctor was worried about the baby's heart rate and my wife's. They put monitors on both and when they'd make a noise, I was mortified. Almost five years later, both are healthy and happy. And I'm sure having a kid will result in several more scariest moments in my life before I'm gone.

 

I was 8 or 9 or 10 and went underwater in a pond. Next thing I remember is waking up on the beach. Have no idea if I had to be resuscitated. Wasn't really scared, but I'm sure my mother was.

 

Being held up working at a beer barn when I was in college.
Like the Ex-Presidents, dudes in the masks were in and out in about 30 seconds.
And they didn't stop to look around or do anything beyond clear out one register.
It was a good two or three hours before I was able to calm down.
I had watched too many movies and fully expected the worst.

 

1. When the anaethestics started kicking in moments before I was to be wheeled into the OR for triple bypass surgery. There is nothing that will change your life quite like open-heart surgery.

2. Seeing a 4x4 post that crashed through the windshield of my SUV after my oldest son ran off the road and hit a big For Sale sign while driving to the grocery store. It hit the console right between where he and his brother were seated. A foot in either direction and one of them would have been killed. Vehicle was totalled, but they didn't have a mark on them.

3. Seated in the passenger seat with my mom driving while we did about four 360s off I-45 near Galveston. She'd moved into the center lane about the same time as another car, they tapped each other and sent her spinning. We just happened to be in an area with a nice wide shoulder between the freeway and the frontage road. One slight scratch on a corner bumper was all the damage and we drove away like nothing had happened. Learned some respect for BMWs that day.