A Childhood Odyssey

In 4th grade, I had a car fall on me. Not a toy car, a real car. And it didn't fall out of the sky. I remember it like it was yesterday.

That day, my family and I were driving back from the mall when someone let us know we had a flat tire. Since the drive isn't that far, we got home safely and inspected the flat. It was a Thursday, and I was supposed to go to my grandmother’s house. I never got a chance to. Instead, I decided to try and help my dad fix the tire. The car jack was placed incorrectly and we tried to remove the spare tire wrong. Instead of pulling the release, we pulled on the spare itself. Needless to say, this caused the car to fall on me, specifically my back. My dad got out in time and yelled up to my mom to help him pick the car up. She ran down as fast as she could and she pulled it off of me, giving me enough time to roll out from under it. This all happened in about 30-45 seconds.

In those 30-45 seconds, I cracked two vertebrae in my lower back. That spot still gives me trouble when I lift things that are too heavy. Luckily, that was the only injury I sustained, and it got me out of school for a week and a half.