This happened in 2011. I never really talked about it, just told a couple of people a very short and shallow summary of the event. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I was unable to figure out the words to use to clearly convey how the event FELT. I could say words that would describe what happened, but they would fall far short of communicating the intense realness and peace and timelessness. Consequently, I felt that what people would hear was just a description of something that I made up or that was just my brain in a very stressful situation. I just couldn’t bear that they would be unable to really get what I was trying to describe, so I kept it to myself.

Until recently, I didn’t think of it as a “real” NDE, but now that I have read so many, I think my experience does kind of fit. Years after it happened, I became aware of NDEs and started reading all I could about them. Sometimes I found myself wishing I could experience something like that - still didn’t consider my event as substantial enough. I didn’t see Jesus or any other being, didn’t see ancestors or friends, no tunnel, didn’t leave my body, wasn’t dead, etc. BUT it has never gone away, never gone far from my mind. And it is still the most Real thing I have ever felt. The experience is still totally vivid and present in my mind. So I have now come to accept and embrace this experience as some kind of “real” NDE.

I was driving my SUV east on a 6-lane divided highway. This highway was heavily traveled, and speeds were between 65 and 85 miles an hour. Despite its width, there were cross roads that did not have a traffic light. Consequently, many people trying to get across the whole highway really floored their pedal to try and make it all the way across in a rare and brief clear passage.

I was hit by such a driver. I had no warning, didn’t see it coming at all. I was driving along, feeling good and then suddenly I felt a massive concussion and was confused and then I realized I had been hit, “T-boned,” in my driver's front door. My vehicle was spinning uncontrollably all over the 3 eastbound lanes of heavy, fast traffic. I would be hit again, maybe more than once; there were too many cars driving so fast.

And then time stopped entirely. There was no movement, no sound, no perception of anything outside of the front area of my car. Due to centrifugal force, loose items had started flying around in my car. In this timelessness, they were all just frozen in midair. It was completely silent and absolutely the most peaceful atmosphere I have ever felt. That point was literally “all the time in the world.” There was no sense of danger or urgency at all.

My next thought was so very calm and matter of fact: “I am about to die.” I didn’t feel afraid; I knew there would be no pain. And it was ok. And then I heard a voice. I didn’t hear words with my ears. The words were in my mind, sort of, although that doesn’t really describe it. It’s like the words just were. They were in, out, all. They were present. They existed. I could sense from whom/what the words were coming and the feeling behind the words was total acceptance and infinite patience and a love that felt like there was nothing ever except love.

The words were, “Do you want to die?” And I had all the time I wanted to think about my answer. At first, my answer was going to be “Yes.” The peace and timelessness and love felt like a balm that I didn’t even know I needed. And then I knew, “No.” I said/thought, “No, I can’t yet. My sons still need me.” I had a complete “knowing” that they still needed me to be here.

The timelessness was suddenly gone. And, boy, was everything moving fast! I was still spinning on the highway. I pushed the brake pedal as hard as I could. I thought, “I don’t know what to do,” and the voice said, helpfully, “Steer into the skid.” I did and my car straightened out, I went flying into the grassy median and stopped. My car was totaled; the truck that hit me was huge and had a big steel grill on its front. The only injury I received was lacerations caused by the door smashing in and the window shattering on my left upper arm resulting in what one of my sons considers to be the coolest looking scar…