Danced with Death

Ooh everyone's posts are fascinating! So far, lots of bad traffic awareness!
My driver side got T-boned by an SUV. My door was smashed in halfway across the seat, but thank goodness I'm pretty tiny. Other than that, I'm pretty lucky. ^.^

On the more somber side, I've seen death come to a close family member, and some friends that chose to meet death a bit early. Those have impacted my life far more than my own near-death experiences.

Almost drowned in a lake when I was a kid. Bunch of other kids messing around and a giant inflatable thingy that I got trapped under and nobody saw me go under. Still have some claustrophobia from that. I also had a bad car accident on the highway at highway speeds and it's a miracle I wasn't hit by any traffic despite spinning across three lanes of traffic, at night in the rain. That fucked me up a bit and I still feel pretty awful when I drive that stretch of road.

But no near death experiences from either. No lights or seeing dead relatives or anything.

When I was 11 or 12, my family went to Cuba when a hurricane hit. My mom and I got stuck in a small elevator with 15 more people. The elevator was stuck in between 2 floors, and the hotel staff was unable to get us. It was about 35? Celsius inside, and we were stuck for a very long time. We started to suffocate; I remember how it felt to take a big breath but not getting all the oxygen that breath should've given me. They eventually pried the doors open from the outside but I've developped anxiety from that. I really can't stand to be in a situation where I can't breathe properly (like having a scarf on my nose/mouth), and being in small spaces with several people makes me sick.

Of all my experiences (one involving a jackass running a red light ten centimeters from my face), this one stands out:

A hot summer day nearly caused me to go down from dehydration. I can tell you that you will vomit, and it ain't pretty when your belly's on E (I saw acids, and maybe some blood?). Thankfully, I was near a neighborhood. Took me three tries to get someone to help me. Everything's a blur from there on.