It was a warm Memorial Day weekend at my Uncle’s camp in Pymatuning, Penn. Every year my family and I went there to celebrate Memorial Day. As a tradition, all of the women in the family would go shopping for food and, more importantly, shoes! I remember getting ready that day. I wore my favorite jean shorts, a striped pink top and my sparkly platform sandals, and could not wait to go shopping. My aunt’s now husband had a Ford Explorer that he drove down so we decided to take that vehicle since it was the biggest. Only one problem -- that vehicle could fit five people, and we had seven. We figured that in order to make it to the store, we didn’t have to drive that far, so if we fit however we could, we would be fine.

So, my aunt got in the drivers seat with my Nana in the passenger’s seat. Across the backseat, my Mom, my little cousin, who was two years old at the time and in her car seat, and my other aunt were sitting. That left my aunt’s stepdaughter, Breona and myself. Definitely not a seat, but we sat in the truck/cargo area. After we all piled in, Breona and I asked my aunt to play "Picture" by Tim McGraw and Sheryl Crow. She was in the process of putting her seat belt on, but when we asked her to play that song, she let go before latching it and grabbed the CD to fulfill our request. My Nana put her seat belt on and my little cousin was strapped into her car seat. Those were the only two individuals to have seat belts on. Once our song was playing, we were ready to go.

We arrived on Route 285 with not much longer to go. In front of us was a bright red pick up truck -- I’ll never know what he was doing, but he was continuously speeding up and slowing down. My aunt, who was driving, mentioned that the truck was making her nervous, and she decided that when we got to the passing zone that was approaching, she would attempt to pass the truck. A few moments later, she got out into the other lane, but out of nowhere another car coming the opposite direction was flying towards us. We had no other option but to get back in our lane, but the spot we were in had already been taken up. In order to avoid hitting the car that was approaching dead on, my aunt attempted to swerve back into our lane. Unfortunately, the tire popped causing us to go what felt like completely back and forth across the road until the car rolled onto its side. We skid across both lanes and hit the lip of the grass next to the road. In that moment, everything seemed to go dark for me, but only for a moment. I wrapped my arms tightly around the headrest in front of me as the car rolled what felt like at least five to 10 times.

The car finally came to a stop, right-side up and on all four tires. My aunt had fallen over her seat and now was sitting where my Mom was previously. My mom fell over her seat and was on top of me. After looking around, I realized Breona wasn’t in the back with me anymore. She had been thrown from the vehicle and if I could describe the sound of her screams from the side of the road, it could still never do it justice. A man who witnessed the accident lifted me out of the car and placed me on the ground. At that point my pain began to set in. I had one of the worst gashes I have ever seen on my right upper thigh and I could not even think about moving without excruciating pain. At that point, my Dad and brother showed up to the scene. I will remember my brother’s reaction to seeing me for as long as I live. My aunt and my Nana were life-flighted to the hospital, along with Breona. By some miracle, everyone in that car survived, but it was by far the most traumatic event in my life.

Do I blame anyone for what happened? Of course not. Could my aunt have decided to just simply stay in our original lane? Yeah, but then again, I was 12; what do I know. Could we have all been a little smarter and not allowed people to sit where there were no seats and forced everyone to wear their seat belts? Absolutely. It is now almost nine years later and although I may forget my seat belt at times, I never get into a car with someone who I don’t feel comfortable driving. And I never get into a car where I know there are not enough seats for everyone. As a young college student everyone piles into cars to go places and, sometimes, I have to stay behind while no one understands, but I refuse to allow this to happen again.

I am not the religious type, by any means, but when Breona was able to talk to my aunt, she told her something that I will never forget. She said, “I remember being in the air when I was thrown out of the car. Three angels picked me up and laid me down on the ground and told me that I was going to be OK. They waited there with me until someone came to help.” I guess that warm day that ruined my shopping adventure, just wasn’t our time to go.