On the east side of Manhattan, the F.D.R highway is the road you take if you want a shot at making good time, on the way home to Brooklyn. It intersects with either the Brooklyn Bridge, which is free and therefore everyone takes, and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. On this particular night, I was driving my car, heading home from I can’t remember where. (Perhaps visiting my girlfriend in the Bronx) Inside the car, in the front seat, was my long time best friend, Arthur Schmulewitz. It was raining slightly. As we came close to the Brooklyn Bridge, I had to move over from the left passing lane to the right lane. It turned out that it was a freezing rain and my car, my very first car, went into a skid that was irreversible.
It became clear that, because I couldn’t get out of the skid, we were going to crash into the embankment and I was going to die. It became clear to Arthur also. You never know how you’ll react in such a situation. Arthur started to whimper and put his head down on my lap. I remember feeling that it was a sweet response. For me, the sure knowledge that I was going to die did a few things. The 1st thing it did was slow time to almost a standstill. The 2nd thing that it did was to cause me to become deeply peaceful. The third thing it did was to play a movie, in slow motion of my entire life. Every event of my life was reviewed and all of it was reviewed from a very easy, non-judgmental perspective. It all made sense. There was no right or wrong, just a knowing and kindly overview. When it was over, we crashed. Then the next thing I knew we were unharmed and were outside the car inspecting the damage. The rest of the night I remained in a state of supernatural calm. When I think back to that day, I’m struck by how ordinary and natural the experience seemed. I never made a big deal about it or spent much time telling people about it. No one had begun speaking about near death experiences at that time. Every once and a while I think back to that night and enter that state of being. It’s a good feeling. I’d like to have access to the movie of my life again. One day, perhaps.
I look very small in the picture:)
ReplyDeleteA Life Review on the F.D.R.
ReplyDeleteOn the east side of Manhattan, the F.D.R highway is the road you take if you want a shot at making good time, on the way home to Brooklyn. It intersects with either the Brooklyn Bridge, which is free and therefore everyone takes, and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. On this particular night, I was driving my car, heading home from I can’t remember where. (Perhaps visiting my girlfriend in the Bronx) Inside the car, in the front seat, was my long time best friend, Arthur Schmulewitz. It was raining slightly. As we came close to the Brooklyn Bridge, I had to move over from the left passing lane to the right lane. It turned out that it was a freezing rain and my car, my very first car, went into a skid that was irreversible.
It became clear that, because I couldn’t get out of the skid, we were going to crash into the embankment and I was going to die. It became clear to Arthur also. You never know how you’ll react in such a situation. Arthur started to whimper and put his head down on my lap. I remember feeling that it was a sweet response. For me, the sure knowledge that I was going to die did a few things. The 1st thing it did was slow time to almost a standstill. The 2nd thing that it did was to cause me to become deeply peaceful. The third thing it did was to play a movie, in slow motion of my entire life. Every event of my life was reviewed and all of it was reviewed from a very easy, non-judgmental perspective. It all made sense. There was no right or wrong, just a knowing and kindly overview. When it was over, we crashed. Then the next thing I knew we were unharmed and were outside the car inspecting the damage. The rest of the night I remained in a state of supernatural calm. When I think back to that day, I’m struck by how ordinary and natural the experience seemed. I never made a big deal about it or spent much time telling people about it. No one had begun speaking about near death experiences at that time. Every once and a while I think back to that night and enter that state of being. It’s a good feeling. I’d like to have access to the movie of my life again. One day, perhaps.
I have no near death experiences to report but i sure loved seeing the cabanas.
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