I was struck in the face by a pickup truck that was being driven by a drunk driver. He was travelling at 78 miles per hour in a 25 zone. I knew I was going to be crushed in two as soon as the truck began to break my ribs.

My body and soul separated. It was like I was tumbled into the ocean, head over feet for a few seconds. Then, I was walking in the street. I was not aware that my body was elsewhere. I experienced bliss and peace in this velvety black night. There was a soft blue illumination. I took four steps (two to the left and two to the right), and then the peace was shattered by my friend screaming my name. I had been walking toward a tunnel, and standing near the entrance was my skating coach who had died when I was 16. I turned around (annoyed), and then I saw my body crumpled halfway under my crushed car. My first thought was "How can I be over there and over here at the same time?" Then I walked back to my body and looked a little closer. I thought to myself "That body is still viable. How strange is this? I get to decide to stay or go back." I thought how I wanted to meet someone, get married, have kids, and that I didn't want to destroy my parents; they are so loving. I also wanted to stay very much. I thought, "I know, I'll just ask God. God is here and he will know what I should do.” I did not see God (or Jesus either for that matter), but it seemed like God was looking over my left shoulder. God said, "Go back" and I said, “Ok.” I was shown some things (most of which I do not remember), and then I turned into mist and re-entered my body through the top of my head.

After I re-entered my body, I had tunnel vision. The EMT kept a point of touch with me in the ambulance, which helped a lot because I kept fighting not to float back out of my body. The hospital released me very quickly; they made an error and thought I was uninsured. My parents took me home to their house, and I woke up in my childhood bedroom. There was no other furniture but the bed (I took it all, plus the cat to my apartment). I had not looked in a mirror since the accident, and when I awoke I wondered if my memories were real. I remembered that there had been a small, eighth of an inch trickle of blood coming out of my left ear. I had observed this from the outside. So, I decided that if I looked in the bathroom mirror and there was blood, that I had consciously experienced being out of my body. No blood is equal to no real memory. There was blood there. Then I demanded that my mom drive me down to the accident scene. It was about 9:30-10:00 am.

When we arrived at the scene, no cleanup had begun yet. There were five totaled vehicles, and the truck that hit me was about a quarter of a mile past the spot where it hit me--still upside down. The EMT who had held me in my body was standing in the exact spot where I had been crumpled under my car. It was creepy. I approached him and told him so. I asked if he had often returned to the scene of accidents. He looked surprised and said "never before" and he told me he had been an EMT for 10 years. I said "Why me? Why now?" He said, "I saw this peaceful blue light shining down from heaven just on you, and it felt so wonderful; it was the very presence of God. I just wanted to bask in it." I stupidly asked "Why didn't you?" He said he had to get me to the hospital. Then he said that he had returned to the scene just as soon as his shift had ended to see if the blue light was still there. He announced that it was gone. Then he looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Were you with God last night?" I said, "Yes." Then I clammed up about it and never told a soul for four years.

On the four-year anniversary of the accident, I told my friend how she had saved my life. I was very anxious when telling her. It took almost an hour to stammer out to her that I believed I had died that night. She then exclaimed, "I know you died." I was stunned. I asked her how she knew, and she said my eyes were open, and no one was home.