21 Hours

Last March...my senior year and my final spring break. I traveled to Florida for spring break my sophomore year, but that was the only time I had been able to go anywhere but home. I was turning 21 over break, and I really wanted to celebrate my birthday somewhere other than my hometown.

My cousin Heather was a sophomore at the same school, and she had an aunt with a condo in Florida we could stay in for free. We talked about going there, but didn't really make concrete plans.

At the time, I was driving a '92 Buick Skylark. It was a high school graduation gift from my parents, and it had caused me nothing but misery from the time I had gotten it. I have an embarrassingly long list of stories I could tell of times it broke down. In January, it had died while I was visiting my parents, so I left it at home for repairs and rode back to school with Heather, who also lives in my hometown.

Because I lived off campus, Heather was letting me use her car while mine was being fixed. We were headed out to a movie in early February when the driver in front of us slammed on his brakes. I was driving, and I managed to stop before hitting him, but the woman behind us didn't see us at all and hit us at about 50 mph. Heather's car was totaled. Our dads drove down in my car and took hers back up north (it was still drivable).

We were a little nervous at the prospect of taking my car on such a long drive, but we couldn't afford to fly and we couldn't find anyone else who wanted to go with us. We looked into renting a car, but neither of us was old enough. So we decided to just try it with my car; if it died on the way we'd try to take a bus or something home. We were pretty much just desperate to escape somewhere warm.

Two weeks before spring break, my car died again. This time, it seemed rather permanent. After getting it fixed pretty much every 2 months for 4 years, I had given up. I decided to just buy another car; I had been thinking about it for a while, and I could use my spring break money for a down payment.

I shopped around online and went to 3 or 4 dealerships (met one guy who was the stereotypical used car salesman), but ended up finding a car at a dealership owned by a classmate's dad. It was a 2000 Ford Focus...bright red, very cute, and pretty low mileage. I checked up on the model online, and it had some of the highest safety ratings in its class. It was $5,100, well within my budget. I decided on the car on the Thursday before spring break started, but I was having a little trouble getting financing, and I didn't end up picking the car up until 9:00 Saturday morning.

I drove back to my apartment from the dealership and packed for my trip home. It was snowing, so I decided to wait and leave in the morning rather than driving an unfamiliar car in bad weather.

I was very excited about my new car. Throughout the afternoon, I kept looking out the window at it. I called home and told everyone about it. I read the owner's manual cover to cover (I'm not kidding...insane, I know). I thought of it as an early birthday present for myself, since my birthday was on Monday. I wanted to get home in time for church with my parents, so I could show off my car to everyone there. I decided to leave at 5 a.m. on Sunday in order to get there by 11.

As I left Grand Rapids, the roads were pretty bad. I'm comfortable driving in snow, but slush and ice are a little more dangerous. My grandparents have a second home (known to the whole family as the farm) in a really small town about an hour north of Grand Rapids. I decided to stop there for a while and wait for the roads to clear up.

Five miles from my exit, I lost control of my car. I was only going about 40 miles an hour, but the car started spinning and I quickly recognized I wouldn't be able to get it back under control. After spinning 2 or 3 times, I hit a small sign and then started rolling down a hill. The car rolled twice and ended up at the bottom of the hill, about 5 feet from some large trees.

My only conscious thought through the entire accident was that I couldn't believe I was wrecking my new car. I wasn't scared at all...I was mad. It didn't even occur to me that I could get hurt.

Once the car stopped, I sat there for a minute kind of in shock. I was covered in broken glass from my window. The car was still running, so I turned it off. I called my parents first to see what I should do. My mom answered the phone, and I told her that I was ok, but I had been in an accident. She said my dad was on his way and to call 911. They told me the police were on my way and to wait by the road. It was 6 a.m....21 hours since I had gotten the car.

My door wouldn't open and the other side of the car was kind of angled into the ground, so I climbed out through the broken window (I felt very adventurous). I stepped out into a foot of snow...wearing a skirt and heels. I climbed up the hill to the road, and a few minutes later a couple stopped and offered to let me sit in their car while I was waiting for the police. I said no at first, but I was really cold, and they seemed pretty nice, so I got in. It ended up that the guy was originally from my hometown (small world).

When the police officer showed up, he called a tow truck, and after getting the details of the accident he decided not to give me a ticket. Highly unusual in a single-car accident, but I have a feeling that my story helped. It being the day before my birthday, and my second day driving a new car, he probably felt sorry for me.

The tow truck arrived, and after I declined medical attention, the police officer gave me a ride to the farm. Since no one was staying there at the time, the house was completely cold and the water wasn't turned on. I curled up under a pile of blankets on the couch and fell asleep. I woke up to my dad shaking my shoulder...he had been out the door less than 10 minutes after I called and made the 5 hour trip, on bad roads, in a little over 4 hours.

I wasn't even sore when I woke up the next morning. My only injury was a tiny cut on my pinkie finger, probably from climbing through the window. Altogether, I had quite the spring break. I spent most of my time on the phone with my insurance company and trying to figure out how to get another car as soon as possible. My insurance company settled on Friday for $6,200. I used the money to buy another car. A red 2000 Ford Focus, slightly nicer than the first one. It's been a year today...haven't broken this one yet! :o)