march 10, 2002 i wake up this morning... ....my friends call on the phone say they are outside to pick me up, im tired but excited.... ...its spring break, some peace of mind, an escape.... ...im heading down to south padre island, padre freaking island... ..first time...beautiful thoughts invade my head.... ...itll be paradise... beautiful ladies, the beach, some music, some friends..im young, my whole life is ahead of me, this will be a week ill always remember.... ....we start off...head down south on 59... i fall asleep...its 7 hours away...when i wake up...ill be happy, for once, maybe.... ..i wake up..my friend in the back is asleep, im tired....weve all had a long weekend back in austin, texas...a rave....a little too much fun.... ...i look around.."2 hours away"..the driver says....i close my eyes...satisfied im almost there...somewhere away from it all... my eyes closed...we swerve...i hear "oh ****..Oh **** oh ****! from the drivers seat...my friend wakes up in the back " what are you doing man"he asks the car tips over i see the ground smash against the window...we flip....i see the world roll around through the smashed windshield...we flip we flip we flip.......profanity....more profanity...i close my eyes... this is the last moment of my life i think....this is it...it all added up to this....ive had dreams like this...where i die like this...but this is real...this is the last moment of my life..i think..... we stop flipping...i open my eyes...the car is on its side...every window busted.....i lookup through the drivers side window at the grey sky..."im not going to south padre anymore"i think..."i fell asleep"the driver says. im in shock cars stop...people aproach...are you ok are you ok is everyone ok they ask over and over.... everyone is...my arm is cut..that is the worst....i was wearing my seat belt...sometimes i dont...but this time i did.... we all climb out the top of the car....cars slowing down gaping at us...i stumble over and sit on the ground...my friends sit beside me....people ask me over and over if im ok...i respond with "im fine"...shocked and sad.... some state troopers stop...an ambulence comes that the onlookers have called.. its cold in south texas near kingsville, i shiver...but im alive... i get in the ambulence...tears stream down my face...im alive....but why...i look out at the cars going by... eventually we get out of the ambulence and pull some of our stuff from the rubble....i find my favorite jacket, my favorite shirt.....my bags...we drive away to the fire station... i remember i left my astros cap in the car..the blue one from the eighties with the orange star and the H...i loved that cap...i got it in the last year the astrodome was open for baseball...it doesnt even matter to me that its gone though for some reason...maybe because im alive.... my arm is cut..its cut under a tatoo i got last november...when i go home i might have to tell my parents....about it...i have hid it for so long...but im alive...maybe its the best time to tell them... i sit in the fire station...and i wait for my friends dad to come pick us up all the way from houston 5 hours..i think.... i fall asleep on a cot while off duty paramedics watch tv, the fast and the furious...knowing what the rest of my week would be like.... they told me i was so lucky over and over,,that all of us were so lucky...and i believed them.... i am home now....still thinking about it constantly....i was close to paradise...3 flips,some broken glass.and...im home again...for the week...no girls in bathing suits....no sunny beaches.... no passing out from vodka and orange juice...im in Htown, baby... im 20 years old, i thought this would be one of the best weeks of my life.....i would feel really alive, i thought, more than ever before... ..i cannot deny that i do...
Be glad you're alive. The glass is half full. Holden - are you really always depressed? Serious question.
Having been in a car accident myself just recently (albeit less serious than yours) I know the feeling of mortality that is awalened in you. Thank goodness no one was injured, Holden, and maybe the silver lining is that it will serve as a warning to you all.
I hate that South Padre drive. Glad your okay. I remember almost falling asleep on the way back from South Padre one Spring Break. I could not stay awake but somehow forced myself to. It's hard being in a car full of people asleep while you drive...especially when your worn out from partying.
I'm glad that you are alright, Holden. Take this as a sign from God that He wasn't ready for you. I would look at this as a great second chance, and I would try to start changing some things about my life that I know need changing.
I take it you will be even a bigger supporter of seat belts after this? It sounds like that could have been the difference between reading about you here or having your name in the obituaries. Glad to have you here. os
Holden -- I'm so glad you're ok! Sorry your spring break was ruined...but much happier that you're alive this morning! God bless!
Seriously be grateful you're okay. My friends in college had a eerily similar experience, except one of them didn't make it out.
Glad you are all okay. What a frightening experience. Knock on wood: I've never been in any kind of serious auto accident.
