re: What Was Your Closest Brush With Death?

I dated a Latina

in all seriousness i was bombing down Roan mtn here in TN on a 10lb piece of carbon fiber going 70mph+ and overcooked a switchback and veered well into the oncoming traffic lane..if a car was coming i would have been dead instantly.

on top of that, i locked up the brakes and ended up off the edge of the road sliding in the gravel looking off a cliff into nothingness and in the 'life flashing before your eyes' moment i only had time to think 'so this is how it ends. i hope it doesn't hurt too bad.'

somehow miraculously, no car was coming and i tightroped the gravel and brakes until i somehow regained control enough to edge back onto the road.


i had a death grip on my brakes the rest of the way down and descended about 25mph.

my buddy at the bottom was like 'where the hell have you been?'

Drowned, CPR, still here.

I was 8 and my parents purchased me a used go-cart.

We had a gravel drive that ran downhill toward the highway we lived on. I would fly down the drive and spin turn toward the open field next door to ride.

Went flying down the hill one day and when I made the sharp left turn, the steering rod broke and both my front tires turned outward and the go-cart (with no brakes) went on to the highway. I passed right in front on a car in one lane and passed right behind the car coming in the other lane. Crashed in the ditch on the other side, but survived.

Flying down 75 south at the 285 interchange, and my dumbass golden retriever decided it was time to leap from the backseat into my lap

I didn't see him setting up the jump, so I was going around 85 MPH and when he hit my side/lap it sent us flying towards the wall. Somehow corrected back into the lane without flipping the son of a bitch.

I threw the dog back into the backseat and gave a speech that would have made Kirby Smart blush the rest of the ride back to my apartment.

1993 Kumite
Me vs Chong Li

During high school my two best friends and I were swimming in the Bogue Falaya on a friend’s private property.

In a bend the river had undercut its bank and created a deep, shady whirlpool on the opposite side of an old oak tree sitting on a slight bluff. From one of its larger branches hung a rope we used to swing out over the river and launch ourselves into the whirlpool.

It was cool deep water lazily circling a flotsam of leaves, twigs, and crepe myrtle blossoms that fell from a small grove of five.

Our target was the center of the bullseye with extra credit for going long and landing as close as possible to the undercut bank where the roots of the trees growing there reached out into the current to claim a victim either by snagging and drowning or by unleashing a seething pod of moccasins.

After landing and surfacing we swam with the current to a small sand beach just down river from our oak tree rope swing to climb out, ascend the upslope, grab the rope and go again.

A single smooth log was partially buried in the beach there and extended into the river maybe ten or twelve feet.

The current washed over it halfway down about six feet. It’s other six or so feet was roughly at or slightly above the river’s level up to the shore line.

The water was very clear, the sandy bottom was easily visible and was rippled by the current and dappled by the sunlight shining down through the river’s uneven surface ruffled by the breeze. About halfway out into the river its current had gouged a tunnel underneath the log.

The clearness and depth of the water there made it look like it was big enough for a man to swim under the log and pass through.

I decided on my next swing out I’d dare the whirlpool’s rooted bank, gather speed swimming with the current aiding me from behind, and submerge to swim underneath the log.

I did and with a powerful kick with my arms back and close by my sides I mightily wedged myself under water past my shoulders to just above my elbows with the current holding me fast and unable to fit through to go forward.

Because I swam and breathed well I had a good deep breath going under and I realized my situation and didn’t panic. I had enough of my hands free to wiggle my fingers into the sand bottom and pull myself slightly backwards. At first just thumbs and a forefinger, and with each inch or so backwards I pressed myself outwards into the log to hold the inch or so gained. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Finally I was able to free my shoulders and push back one last time as I breathed in water and launched myself upward and sprawled bent over the log coughing out water and vomiting.

My friends were looking for me and had passed me and were about twenty feet down river from me. They thought I’d kept swimming down river and was too far to hear them yelling for me.

Giving birth to my 4th child. His heart stopped and I had had an abrupted placenta with my 3rd, so I thought this was it. I said the fastest Our Father and Hail Mary before I was out.

Fell asleep on the interstate and woke up doing 70 through the Essen overpass construction. Came close enough to the concrete support pillar to knock my side view mirror off.

3 wheeler accident on 11th birthday. Every day since has been a gift.