You-Only-Live-Once
Quote by Mae West, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Why does this mean do much to me?
I going to tell you a story from a time I was in high school. I would like to forewarn everyone that this story includes mention of near death, suicidal thoughts, bullets, shooting, and bullet holes.
When I was in high school I had a few friends that I was very close with. My core friend group if you will. Their names are Julia, Pedro, and Steven. This story is one I would say brought us closer together through jokes of this event. The night begins with a football game. We enjoy the festivities and we enjoy our youth. Throwing around jokes, smiling, laughing, cheering for our losing team. Truly everything you imagine when thinking of an American teenager’s high school experience. One of my friends, Steven, was in the band for our school so after the game we decided to wait for him to get out of uniform so we could go enjoy the rest of our night.
While waiting for him Pedro, Julia, and I decided to wait at another entrance of the school that would allow for a quicker exit. So we get in Julia’s car. Her driving, Pedro in the backseat, and myself in the passenger seat. We pull into the parking lot closest to the front of the school since that is where Steven would be exiting. As we are waiting for him we sit in the car, windows down, just chatting and making jokes. I am sat basically over the middle console so engrossed in our conversation. There are other kids in groups in our vicinity, but that’s normal after a football game. We sit there waiting when out of nowhere we hear a loud noise. It kind of sounds like a firework. And all of us in the car turn our heads to hear where the noise came from. We don’t see anything that could have caused it but I could have sworn I saw a flash of light. And so did Pedro, as he suggests maybe the group of people near us maybe set off fireworks. It seems feasible since the group near us start laughing, yelling, and running around. We agree that maybe it was a firecracker, but move the car further away to be safe.
Steven eventually comes out and joins us in the car. Julia drops us all off at our respective homes and we plan to hang out soon. A day or so after the game Julia, Steven, and I decide to go hang out. While we set off for our adventure, Steven notices what looks like a hole in the passenger headrest. Julia looks at it in confusion and says she’ll ask her father what could have caused it. But Steven also notices it goes all the way through the headrest. What looks like a hole straight from the front to the back at an angle. He jokes that maybe someone had it our for us and tried to shoot us. We laugh it off and continue with our day.
The next day Julia sends a message to a group chat with Pedro and myself. I thought maybe she had gossip she had found out and wanted to tell us but I never would have imagined seeing a picture of a bullet. A bullet that she found in her trunk. I remember an eerie feeling taking over me. She told us that she was going to call the police and have it investigated. They ended up questioning each of us at the nearest station. But while all that was taking place we realized what really happened. We were almost shot. The bullet had flown straight through the headrest of where I was sitting and even through the back middle headrest. Which explains why it ended up in the trunk.
Image 1 of Passenger Headrest
Image 2 of Passenger Headrest
With everything happening so quickly, I felt like I had no time to process the situation. And I wish I had the chance to tell my Mom what happened. But I didn’t. Someone had called her and told her that I had almost been shot before I even had a chance. I got home the day she found out and she immediately started crying and hugging me. It hit me then the severity of what happened. She went on crying about how she could have lost her baby girl, and I comforted her telling her that I was ok. Still in a state of shock myself, I made light of the situation. While everyone around me showed concern for how close the bullet was to hitting me. I simply couldn’t comprehend how leaning over for a conversation could have saved my life.
After that realization I entered a dark time in my life. At one point even wishing that the bullet didn’t miss. But I overcame it thinking of the saying “YOLO”. I know it may sound juvenile, but truly thinking about how I was spending my life feeling bad about myself and even wishing something horrible on myself made me rethink it all. It is very true, you have one life. And I no longer wanted to spend my one life with a dark cloud hanging over my head. So I decided to use this event as a sign that I should treat each day like it is my last. And I don’t mean going out or partying. I mean that I should choose everyday to treat myself and other with kindess, and to give everything I can my 100%. Because should I fail at anything I will know that I gave it my all and that is what counts. Because like the phrase also says, “If you do it right, once is enough.” And I want to feel like I have lived my life right in my own way. I believe that everyone should have a quote they go to for their own hardships, and if my reader’s seeing this don’t have one, I suggest the one that inspired this blog. Because there is always time to improve.