It Only Takes One Second
Written by Kimberly Bennett
~Written on February 18th, 2012~
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11
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People who barely know me do not know I have a twin sister. She and I are like two peas in a pod—inseparable. Although we go to different colleges, it does not take away from the time we have shared with one another in the past. She is my best friend and will always be despite our constant bickering.
I had often wondered what my life would be like if I was not born a twin. Since last weekend, however, I would not want anything different. She is my twin and we are connected in a way no other set of siblings can be and that is how it should be. We have done everything together up until college. Now we are trying to find our own individualities. My life could have been different last Saturday Morning when I found out that my sister had almost died in a car wreck. To this day, I do not know what I would have done without her. God has a plan for everyone. He knows when each person is born into the world as well as when they are leaving the world. He knows and only He knows. Life is fragile and it can be taken away in less than a second. In less than a second, someone’s world could flip upside-down. Thankfully, mine wasn’t….
It was strange…
Normally, on Saturday mornings, I wake up around 8:30 AM but, for some unknown reason, I woke up at 10 AM on February 11th, 2012. I remember rushing downstairs and noticing that my dad was still making breakfast. Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and yawned, “Did you wake up late too?”
Unfortunately, his answer was not what I had expected….
He said, “Not really…You’re sister was in a car accident early this morning.”
I swore my heart had skipped a beat. “Is she okay?” I asked him, but instead of saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ he replied, “She’s in the family room with your mother.”
Fearing the worst, I ran into the family room and saw my sister hugging my mother for dear life. The instant I laid eyes on her, a weird sensation washed over me. I said the only thing I could think of at the time. “Are you okay?!” When she didn’t answer, I asked again and started crying. Let me tell you one thing, it was the weirdest cry in the world. My sister can attest to that (she loves rubbing it in occasionally whenever we look back to that horrible day).
When something happens to one of my family members, I like to get to the bottom of it. I want to know every detail and I’m not afraid of asking every single type of question until I’ve uncovered every piece of the puzzle. After asking for the accounts of both my parents and of my sister, I finally have pieced everything together and this is what happened the night of February 11th, 2012….
We apparently received a call around 2 A.M. in the morning, and my mother just knew it was Kristen. Dad answered it and Mom was right; it was Kristen and she sounded hysterical! She had told my father that she had crashed the car. He asked her where she was and she didn’t know. She was at wit’s end. Even though my dad didn’t know where my sister was going to be, he immediately jumped out of bed, got dressed and headed out the door. My guess is that he called the O’Fallon police on his way over to the crash site because they had apparently called back home to speak with my mother. If anyone else in my family was going crazy, it was my mother. She couldn’t go with my dad to find my sister because she was still recovering from her surgery from the day before. Talk about bad timing! Dad eventually called home and told my mom that he was with Kristen and that she safe—in pain, but safe.
When I finally asked my sister if she could remember anything from the wreck, this is what she said:
“I was driving along Scott Troy Road and could barely see a thing. If I knew the roads were going to get that bad, I wouldn’t have left for home that night. I knew I was off of the road the instant I felt gravel under the tires. I cannot tell you word for word what was happening because, in reality, everything happened way too fast. I just remember seeing the pole, feeling the impact as well as the rotation of the vehicle as it tumbled down the hill. As everything was happening, I could only think of one thing: I was going to die.”
We were all very glad Kristen didn’t die that night. Later in the day, around noon, she and my dad went to the tow trucker’s place to retrieve all of her personal items that he could find inside the totaled cruiser.
The tow trucker said the exact same thing the police had said earlier in the morning: “I have never seen an accident this bad where the driver has walked away alive.”
Three of the four corners were completely destroyed. The only corner unscathed was the corner with the gas tank. Some might call that luck but I don’t—I believe God was protecting her that night.
It only takes one second for someone’s world to end.
That’s how fast our lives can be taken away from us.
Logic says Kristen should have died that night… But I’m glad she didn’t.
