It was the summer before my sophomore year in high school. I got up one summer morning and was excited to get my stuff together to go to dance camp. It was my first year in dance; so I was excited for the ride to Lincoln. All the dance team members were supposed to meet at Melanie's house to depart for Lincoln. When I arrived at Melanie’s house most of the girls were already there. We were all talking about how much fun camp was going to be. Finally we all had our luggage in the vehicles and we were ready to take off.

I was riding to Lincoln in Melanie’s Suburban. There were six other people riding in the vehicle: Breanna, Molly, Morgan, Sagan, Melanie and Megan. One of the first things Melanie, our driver and dance sponsor, told us to do is, buckle up. We weren’t too excited that she was going to make us buckle up all the way to Lincoln. We all nagged about it, but we did buckle up. I decided I would bring along my portable DVD player and watch a movie. Molly and I sat in the very back of the Suburban, since it was just her and I we had plenty of room. The only bad thing about sitting in the back is when someone needs something out of her bag Molly or I had to dig through the bags and find it. We finally passed through McCook which took forever to get to. It took us so long to get there due to construction work. The movie Molly and I were watching was almost over. We were about a mile away from some more construction when someone asked me to get something out of their bag. There were two vehicles in front of us stopping for the construction work. Behind us was the other vehicle that the rest of the dance team members were riding in. I took the top strap off of my seat belt and was looking toward the back, out the window. I noticed there was another car behind the one where the other girls were riding in. This car was going really fast for it needing to almost stop.
The lady driving this car was on her cell phone and didn’t notice us stopping. All I said was OH MY GOSH!, and then we got hit. I remember my head going forward really hard and hitting the seat in front of me. There was smoke everywhere from the air bags going off. Molly and I had to hurdle over the seat in front of us and get out. The car behind us went under the Suburban. The lady’s car behind that car went under that car and jammed the doors. When we were on the side of the road we were shocked by what had just happened. All I was thinking was WOW! I hope everyone is okay. At first we all seemed okay, but then after a bit I realized I couldn’t move my neck left, right, up or down. Then some of the other girls realized that they were more hurt that what they thought. Morgan had a big bruise across her chest from the seat belt holding her back. Melanie broke the top of her finger, and her other daughter, Lisa, who was driving the car, had some major cuts on her arms from the windshield. I couldn’t believe that had just happened. I realized that even though my seat belt wasn’t on all the way it helped me a lot. If we wouldn’t have been wearing our seatbelts I’m sure someone would have ended up going through the windshield. Just minutes after our accident four ambulances showed up on the side of the road to assist us. They took us to the hospital and almost all of us got x-rays.
After that day I realized how important it is to wear your seat belt. A main thing I realized was how sudden my life could have ended. I was just planning on having a good time and learning some dance routines not having to be in a neck brace for two and half weeks. I learned to appreciate every moment from this and now I always remember to wear my seatbelt everywhere.