I wake up and realize that it is way too early for people to be moving around. I want nothing more than to sleep, but she has to go to work and this isn’t my place. Groggily, I get up and get my disheveled self together. We say our goodbyes and I get into my car at 7am. “What the Hell am I doing up anywhere near this hour?” I think to myself as I start driving and realize how tired I still am. I wouldn’t drive if I didn’t feel comfortable with my ability at that time, but that in no way means I’m in top racing conditions. As I drive the thirty minutes back to my house, I go into autopilot and look forward to sleeping in my bed for just a few more hours. Suddenly the car in front of me swerves from the fast lane into the carpool lane. I start to make some comment about jackass drivers when I see it, a parked car in the fast lane about 50 feet in front of me.  Read 

The door to my room swung open and my dad was standing there in a panic. It was four thirty in the morning and still dark out. He asked if my brother and I were alright and after we responded he told us to stand under our doorway in case of an aftershock. I was barely eight years old and my brother was only five. We had no idea what was going on at the time and didn’t know what to think. We were initially more annoyed than anything at being awake, but slowly as we heard more about what had happened we spent an entire morning scared and standing in a doorway in the dark. Unfortunately for other people that day, our morning had been much easier than theirs.  Read 

“You know this is how you’ll die,” I thought to myself. I was lying flat on my back on the carpet just outside of my bathroom, sweating and starting to worry. It was getting so hot that I would momentarily lose vision before shaking my head furiously to restore my sight. My stomach was a boiling vat of acid and I wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball, but I knew that would only make the overheating worse. I tried to calm myself, but when things start to scare me I breathe faster and shorter, I panic. I started gulping for air and once again I was doing the mental life checklist I had done so many times before. This was ten minutes ago.  Read