Icymudpuppy
10-26-2009, 06:21 PM
Sometimes I wonder how I'm still alive.
I was legally dead twice before the age of three because of my extreme allergy to peanuts. Somehow I came back both times.
At 2.5 years, I fell 30 feet out of a barn loft, but instead of landing on the concrete floor, a cow walked under me just in time to break my fall. The cow never entered the barn again.
At age six, my pant leg was caught in a tractor's PTO shaft, but instead of ripping my leg off, my pants ripped away leaving me with only a very painful abrasion.
At 12 I was riding my bicycle and was hit by a car, but although my bike was mangled, I came away shaken but uninjured.
At 14 a cougar charged at me while I was muzzleloader hunting for deer, but stopped just 30 feet away, and walked off.
at 16 my 74 Mazda RX-3 was T-boned by an F-350. It was totalled, but all I got was a scratch from broken glass.
at 20 I lost control of my Geo Metro in a blizzard, slid into the oncoming lane and came inches from being flattened by an oncoming Freightliner, but miraculously gained control at the last minute and swung out of the way.
at 24 I got my first deployment to Iraq, and over the next 4 years, I was shot four times, had numerous explosives detonate near me (the largest 3 linked 155mm artillery shells at about 25 meters which mangled two of my buddies and thrashed three Stryker vehicles, yet despite being up in the hatch, not a single piece of shrapnel touched my skin. and the closest being a 60mm mortar which landed only 12 feet away, yet all I got was sprayed with sand and dust.)
I've been hit with high voltage power. Rolled my Kayak in Fairbanks' Chena River in April during breakup, and probably a few other close calls that I can't think of right now.
Yet I've never experienced the famed "life flashing before my eyes" thing, and I've never been really terrified for my life.
What do you think it means?
I was legally dead twice before the age of three because of my extreme allergy to peanuts. Somehow I came back both times.
At 2.5 years, I fell 30 feet out of a barn loft, but instead of landing on the concrete floor, a cow walked under me just in time to break my fall. The cow never entered the barn again.
At age six, my pant leg was caught in a tractor's PTO shaft, but instead of ripping my leg off, my pants ripped away leaving me with only a very painful abrasion.
At 12 I was riding my bicycle and was hit by a car, but although my bike was mangled, I came away shaken but uninjured.
At 14 a cougar charged at me while I was muzzleloader hunting for deer, but stopped just 30 feet away, and walked off.
at 16 my 74 Mazda RX-3 was T-boned by an F-350. It was totalled, but all I got was a scratch from broken glass.
at 20 I lost control of my Geo Metro in a blizzard, slid into the oncoming lane and came inches from being flattened by an oncoming Freightliner, but miraculously gained control at the last minute and swung out of the way.
at 24 I got my first deployment to Iraq, and over the next 4 years, I was shot four times, had numerous explosives detonate near me (the largest 3 linked 155mm artillery shells at about 25 meters which mangled two of my buddies and thrashed three Stryker vehicles, yet despite being up in the hatch, not a single piece of shrapnel touched my skin. and the closest being a 60mm mortar which landed only 12 feet away, yet all I got was sprayed with sand and dust.)
I've been hit with high voltage power. Rolled my Kayak in Fairbanks' Chena River in April during breakup, and probably a few other close calls that I can't think of right now.
Yet I've never experienced the famed "life flashing before my eyes" thing, and I've never been really terrified for my life.
What do you think it means?