At the Moment of Death

I thought I was at the moment of death.  As a nurse I’d been with patients in their final moments but now found myself preparing to face my own probable death. Late one evening, I was trying desperately to get home amidst severe weather warnings.  Thunderstorm warnings were in effect with strong likelihood for development of a tornado.  We live near a lake in Louisiana experiencing frequent tornado activity, so bad weather is always a concern.  I was within a mile of home when the worst of the storm hit, stranding me on an overpass over the interstate.  I was caught between cars, visibility so low I couldn’t even see the tail lights of the car ahead of me.  Rain and straight lines winds buffeted the car, moving it and rocking it side to side.  I waited, terrified, not knowing if I was going to be swept from my high point by a tornado or killed by impact from a vehicle behind.  Though, I couldn’t see it, I learned later the tornado touched down about two hundred feet behind me, destroying everything in its path.

Once I determined death was inevitable, my fear left me.  I felt gratitude for the life I’d been given and was grateful that my husband was there to finish raising the children. In a minute or so the skies cleared as I headed home to my worried family who was hiding in a closet from the tornado I’d just escaped!  I’ve never felt a dread of death since that day.

37 thoughts on “At the Moment of Death”

  2. I,for one, am extremely happy that that tornado touched down where it did, and not 200 feet closer to the car you were in. Otherwise, someone else would be telling this story, and I already know they could never tell it as well as you. 🙂

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  7. Excellent post. I recall that I was on a late night walk about on North Beach. I heard a voice shout, “OK, get him!” I turned around and there were two men behind me. One of them had a large pipe,
    It was poised to come down on my skull. I looked the guy with the pipe in the eyes and completely relaxed and accepted that I was going to die. But instead of smashing my skull he looked me back in the eyes

    And then the two of them fled. It seemed that I had instinctively done the one thing that would have saved my life and that was to look my assailant in the eye. I don’t quite understand why that worked but it is the only reason I can think of to explain that I am alive to tell the story.

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  9. Great post and I too recognise that feeling as I once had it whilst scuba diving. And I agree, it is a lesson – to live our lives without fear, although its often easier said than done. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. I had a tornado “chase me down the road of a Mt. Lake” many years ago and I can honestly say, I thought I was a goner. Not a feeling I care to experience, again. Don’t know which I fear more: tornado’s, hurricane’s, or the earhtquakes that I get on the West Coast. They all scare the hell out of me……

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  13. Elaine says:

    Linda, that is almost exactly what happened to me and Missy a couple of years ago. I had left Connie at Adam’s in Mississippi and was almost at my hometown about 90 minutes away. As i sat there my legs were shaking so bad they were bouncing and hitting the steering wheel. Before the storm passed I was holding Missy and praying and became really calm and peaceful. I actually feel now like the incident was a learning lesson and a blessing.

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