Travel

Close calls

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What unusual accidents have you been involved in over the years? What were your close calls? Please think about this question and share your stories.

When I was 3 years old, I crashed through the screen on our family’s second floor porch in Morganton. Harley Johnson was mowing our lawn and just happened to be there to catch me and keep me from striking a pile of rocks.

Six months later, I plunged into a koi pond behind Grace Episcopal Church in Morganton while my mother had turned her back. I almost drowned but my mother managed to save me.

When I was 4 years old, a car hit me in front of my house on N. Anderson Street. It was totally my fault. I was trying to impress some kids across the street by showing them my new Daniel Boone coon skin cap, and I failed to call my parents to watch me cross the street. I was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital. I did suffer a concussion but no broken bones.

At age 11 I survived a powerful rip tide at Long Beach thanks to a kind surf fisherman who tossed down his pole and swam out to rescue me.

During my college years, I was hit by an airplane and survived. The wing of a single engine plane taxiing at a small Triad airport clipped the back of my head knocking me to the ground. I had just landed at the airport with two friends and we were walking up the sidewalk when a rookie pilot got a little off course. This accident caused a horrible headache but nothing too serious.

Ten years ago, while driving into work during the Triangle's epic 22 inch snowfall, I suffered a white-out lasting five seconds while exiting the Beltline. Following a serious prayer, visibility returned.

What about you? What were your close calls?

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