My 2nd birthday
I have been celebrating my second birthday since November 6, 2011.
Why? I was approached by a wrong-way driver on the highway.
The images are burned into my memory. I was driving on the highway that day. It was slightly foggy that Sunday morning. My view into the distance was very slightly blocked. And suddenly there was the voice in my head that said, “Get off the gas, it’s a little foggy.”
Shortly after that, I saw two headlights racing straight at me. Suddenly, time took on a different dimension in my perception. It was only seconds, but I had thoughts and reflections for hours.
Options for action
I thought through various options for action. Whether I could swerve to the right. But there was a car. Whether I could brake and get in behind the car. That was too close and didn’t work. Whether I could accelerate and pull in in front of the car next to me. I didn’t have enough horsepower in my car for that. And that I had no alternative. That I would collide with the ghost car because it wasn’t clear on the right. What would happen if I collided with the car. That I would no longer have a chance to say goodbye to Roland or friends. That I would leave this life without having even started my mission in this life.
All these thoughts went through my mind in those few seconds. Then I saw the car next to me turn its steering wheel and make a small gap for me. I was able to pull into that gap. Just like that. I was petrified and knew that if I stopped now, I wouldn’t be able to make my client appointment. My path led to an event with 50 executives that I was supposed to moderate. So in my shock, I just drove on without stopping. 500 km without a break.
Goosebumps and reproaches
Unfortunately, I didn’t notice that at the small crest, the cab driver behind me couldn’t avoid the wrong-way driver. She collided head-on with the car. The wrong-way driver and the female cab driver died instantly. The passenger was critically injured. To this day, I don’t know if the lady survived. The freeway was closed on both lanes for hours because the impact catapulted the wrong-way driver’s car onto the opposite side of the freeway.
Actually, it would have been my turn and I wouldn’t have survived if the car next to me hadn’t had the presence of mind to jerk the steering wheel to the side and give me the gap. And if there hadn’t been that quiet voice in my head.
Years later, I tried to track down my lifesaver and found him via social media. But not him, but his passenger. The driver himself had taken his own life two years later. For whatever reason. He gave me my life and took his own life. For me, that was incomprehensible.
Quintessence
What I learned from this situation? Nothing is as important as family, relationships and your own life. I didn’t care about my company, my car, my money or our house at that moment. I was only thinking about the people who will miss me. Then I realized: If I go on like this again, I will go out of this life without having lived consciously. I took that to heart. There are now much more important things in my life than just working and breathing.
And I literally woke up a second time in this situation: My spiritual helpers gave everything so that I could fulfill my mission. Thank you for that!
#secondbirthday #lifeisawesome