Being able to drive forces teenagers to grow up. It forced me, Noelle, to grow up. My own personal experience with a car crash transformed me in a way nothing else could have. I remember the time I experienced the momentum switch between the excitement of driving to the fear of it. It all started on an overall odd Thursday. My sister came to pick up my friend and I to go back to my house after school to work on a project. It was all fun and exciting, windows rolled down already talking about summer, and how much we’ve dreamed of it to come. What seems like endless summer nights that need to be lived up, ponders around in my mind. Thinking about summer is what gets us through school, let’s be honest. But, what I really can’t wait for is the stress over worrying about little things like grades and homework to be gone. Summer seems to have that effect on me. My daydreaming came back to reality as we were passing by our favorite ice cream place, “Oh, how bad I want ice cream right now,” I said to Madi and Addison.
“Me too!” they replied. I went to say something else, when all of a sudden everyone brakes really fast. My sister managed to stop inches away from the car in front of her. I looked at her and said, “That was a close one Madi.”
She replied with a simple, “Sorry guys,” even though it wasn’t her fault, we all had to brake fast. We actually went to laugh because we were so relieved, when out of nowhere, a car crashed into us. In shock, I had no idea how that just happened. I remember feeling the pain in my stomach, it was like I had been stepped on by an elephant. Immediately, my sister started crying and yelled “Get out, get out.” Obeying her, I got out, still unaware of what just happened. As I looked around, I saw that our car was so totaled. The back end was completely smashed and the windshield was broke so much it almost collapsed on top of me. Luckily, I had Addison, my friend to calm me down, she said “It’s going to be okay, I’ve been in a car crash before.” How is it going to be okay though, I wondered. I realize now that my priorities were not in check, when I said, “How are we going to finish our project now?” We have to finish I contemplated to myself. Addison looks at me, and said “Noelle, that doesn’t matter right now.” At that moment I wondered how could I somehow look over the fact that we’re all okay? I experienced so much anxiety the next couple times I had to ride in a car, my body shaking, it was the fear of being in a car that got me. Noelle snap out of it, I thought to myself. It’s going to be okay, it has to be. I guess I just didn’t realize that life still has so much for me to explore, school shouldn’t be my #1 priority, living my life to the fullest should be. There are many more important things in life to worry about other than school. From that moment on, I didn’t worry about the little things in life.