Getting Up to Speed ~ 9 Lives Minus 1 (or Dead Girl Walking)

18 August 2008 is Ariana's new birthday.

That is when she escaped death after a serious car accident.

That summer afternoon, Ariana was leaving her job at T.J. Maxx in Wareham. She was looking forward to meeting up with her friend, Gavin, who was going to be in the area for only a couple more days.

While travelling west and staying in the lane that she needed to get onto Route 6, a car that was in the left lane entered her lane with the intention of going right to get onto Route 28.

The car struck Ariana's car.

She lost control of her car.

The car went airborne and flipped several times, rolling down an embankment, taking out a large wooden sign, nearly hitting a building, and finally taking rest on the driver's side with the passenger's side pointing skyward.

Ariana awoke to consciousness to the sound of the paramedics talking to her through the open sun roof, which, by the way, was closed when she was driving.

She was lucky. Ariana was not wearing her seat belt, which really came to a shock to me because she ALWAYS wore her seat belt when she was riding with me. But I guess like a lot of young people, who found seat belts both uncomfortable and uncool, she would not wear one while she was driving.

She should have been ejected from her car when it was rolling down the embankment. But as fate would have it, only her cell phone was ejected. Ariana remained stay put in the driver's seat, with her left arm pinned under the car.

All who had attended the accident ~ the police, the paramedics, the tow truck guys, and even the boyfriend of an acquaintance who happened to be a witness ~ said that with the severity of the accident, Ariana should have been dead.

But God must have had other plans for her. Not only did she survive the accident, she survived it with just a minor concussion and a couple of scrapes, scratches, and bruises.

It is a miracle that Ariana survived and was not seriously injured. And we are still celebrating this miracle to this very day.

Not only was Ariana's survival a sign that God has other plans for her, it was also a sign of hope for the whole family. If Ariana could survive and walk away from an accident that should have killed her, then surely there was hope that our life circumstances would turn around for the better.

Ariana's survival gave us hope that a better life was waiting for us.