A Near Death Experience
Author: Mr Hanna

I am a mother of three - I have two boys and a beautiful little
girl. They can be a real handful at times. I take care of my
children by myself for the most part. I split up with my
husband a couple of years ago, and nowadays I'm lucky if he
takes them for a weekend every two weeks. To be honest I don't
think he's capable of having them for more than two days a
fortnight. Financially he helps a bit, but it's basically up to
me to make sure that I have enough money to provide for myself
and my kids. I have a decent job, and we get by.

My job sees me driving a lot. I have 60 miles to drive to get
to work in the morning, and 60 miles again to drive home. I
drive fast; some people say too fast, but it's never bothered
me in the past - I consider myself a very good driver. But an
incident last week made me consider things in a whole different
light.

It was a normal morning's drive to work. I drive along the
bypass at 70 mph after dropping the kids at the pre-school
club. I'm always in a rush, after managing to get the kids into
the car. My hair's usually a mess; my makeup hasn't been done,
and my breakfast is in my lap. As I think about it now, driving
at 70 mph with no hands, as I eat my breakfast, or fix my hair,
probably isn't a smart thing to do every morning. I was
cruising along with my bagel in one hand; fixing my hair with
the other hand, as I looked at myself in the mirror, and held
the steering wheel with my knees. Just then my car drove over a
piece of a car's engine from a previous accident. If I'd have
been watching the road I could easily have missed the object.
If I'd had my hands firmly on the wheel then I could have
controlled the car, but because of my compromising position I
lost full control of the car. It steeply swerved into the
barrier, and as I grabbed the wheel to take the car away from
the barrier the car swerved the other way, and spun a couple of
times before the grip of the tires took the road side on, and
the car flipped on its side and rolled for a couple of hundred
metres.

My life didn't flash in front of my eyes, but my children's
did. I seen them living with their dad in uncontrollable
anarchy. I seen them growing up as problem children: coming
from a background of no money and no control. My kids are great
kids, but I can see that without me they could grow up to be bad
kids.

After the accident I was only left with cuts and bruises, but I
had a new vision of how things should be. I decided that I
should be more responsible with my life: for my kids' sake and
I should plan for the kids' future, in case something did
happen to me.

I got myself some life insurance - I actually purchased it
online while I was at work
(http://www.barclayslifeinsurance.com/iapp/part_00.php ) - and
I've decided to drive more responsibly. I now take an extra
couple of minutes to eat my bagel before I leave the house; I
make sure my hair and makeup are done before I leave, and I
keep my speed down to under 60 MPH. It means that I have to get
up earlier in the morning, but I'd do anything for my kids. My
next objective is to move house, to somewhere that's a lot
closer to work. Then things will work themselves out, and I
wont have to worry so much about my kids growing up in a way
that I haven't planned.


About The Author: Michael is a keen writer, and internet
marketer living in Scotland: Contact details: E-mail:
samqam@googlemail.com Phone: 0131 561 2251 Michael's Website:
http://www.gransha-taxi.co.uk