His memories of before the incident are distant. They are buried deep within his brain. He has managed to hang on to them but they are becoming more and more isolated from the rest of his memory. He knew that he would soon have nothing left to show of his time before the massive change in his life. He did not want to let them go, but they were going to leave him eventually. During his long life, he had encountered many setbacks but nothing was comparable to the time he was in a life changing car crash.

I was a close friend to this man. He was a very accomplished business man who was having the time of his life when the accident happened. He had worked for his entire adult life to become the man he was before the terrible crash. He had a wonderful family with a great wife and 3 children, two boys and a girl. He loved them dearly and would give his life for them. His job was stable, even though the economy had crashed. He actually benefited from the recession; his boss was going to give him a promotion to vice-president of the company. His life was almost perfect, until one night when he made the decision to go to the company party.

The Friday workday had been relatively easy. His day had consisted of a few minor meetings and a private conversation with the president of his company. This conversation was especially important because his boss had told him he would be promoted in the coming months. My friend was relived because his wife had just been laid off of her job as a realtor. Their family was going to be in money troubles soon if she could not find a job. He could not wait to go home to tell his wife the great news. His wife was trilled when she found out she would not be pressured into finding a job in a short amount of time. The couple decided to go out and celebrate that night. So they told the kids that they were going out and went to the company party at the nicest hotel in the city.

After a few hours of drinking and having a good time, my friend’s wife was feeling guilty about leaving the kids home alone for so long and she asked her husband to go home. He told her she could go home and he would get ride home from his co-worker. They said their goodbyes and my friend’s wife drove home.

It was early in the morning before my friend found a co-worker that would give a ride home. By this time my friend was very drunk and did not know what he was doing. He stumbled into me, and I asked him how many drinks he had had and he thought about it for a few seconds, and then told me that he drank two drinks. It was obvious from his appearance that he had had way more than two drinks. I was going to leave soon so I offered him a ride. He accepted my offer and staggered out to my car with me. I climbed into the drivers seat and sped off. My friend passed out about a quarter of the way to his house. I was on the highway when he slumped over and I immediately thought that he could have alcohol poisoning. I changed my course from his house to the nearest hospital. I started to get worried about him so I sped up. This was the biggest mistake of my life.

The three minutes after I sped up were hectic. I felt as if I did not get my friend to the hospital soon he would die and it would all be my fault for not going fast enough. I sped up even more and at this point I was going nearly one hundred mile per hour. I was coming up to the exit I needed to take but before I got there, I needed to slow down. I slammed on my brakes, but it wasn’t enough. I overshot the exit, flew over the guard rail, off the bridge and smashed straight into the asphalt on the ground.

Remarkably, we both survived the crash. I was badly bruised all over my body and my nose and both legs were broken. I also had a concussion. I was very lucky that I had put my seat belt on or my injuries could have been much, much worse. My friend on the other hand, was not as lucky as me. He was not wearing his seatbelt so it is a miracle he even survived. He was thrown from the car into a grove of trees. His softer landing was aided by the trees and bushes, but he was still severely injured. Like me, he had received many broken bones but he did not have to feel the pain because he was paralyzed from the neck down. His brain was not severely injured but his spin was. He lost all feeling and mobility of his entire body other than his head. He can still talk but not as well had he could before. His boss had wanted to keep him on the job but my friend was unable to do his job effectively. My friend lost his job and now his whole life of working toward moving up in his company had been a waste. His wife had tried to stay loyal to him but she found another man and took the kids with her. His life had been ruined, all because of me.