Pivotal Moment Essay

A Moment’s Hesitation Sometimes, people don’t stop to consider how dangerous a world they actually live in. One single moment can have any number of outcomes. Driving down the road, near the end of my thirteenth winter, a single instant changed the way I saw life forever. ‘Twas the night before Valentine’s, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse – Well, almost. My house is rarely quiet. My sister was blasting the television as my mother ran around the house trying to keep everything in order. After dinner, I came up with an idea: I should get my class Hershey’s Kisses for Valentine’s Day the next day. My mother was fine with the idea and offered to drive me. As we got in the car, I was a little nervous. My dad always drives us because my mother has epilepsy and rarely drives. It can trigger a seizure if she isn’t careful. My dad was bedridden at the time, so the only viable candidate for driving me to the Walgreens up the street was my mom. There was only one intersection and one traffic light, neither typically busy, to get through.

As she was stopped, there were two cars coming from the left, the direction we were headed.

“Mom, those two cars are turning right. We can go because they won’t intersect us.” I spoke up, being the backseat driver that I am. One car turned. “We can also just go after this car because the other cars will have to stop at the sign and we have the right of way.” That’s what she decided to do. The second car went by us and we pulled into the intersection. Time slowed down as I sat behind the driver’s side, watching a third car quickly approach from the left. I couldn’t think or speak to warn my