Drive As If…

Kaylen Naert

AP Lang

Period 2

Have you ever had an experience of being in a car accident or have seen your friends or family members driving irresponsibly?

The average weight of a car is 2,781 lbs. The average weight of an adult human is 136 lbs, and more importantly to my essay, the average weight of a Patterdale Terrier is 11-13 lbs. Driving is one of the most dangerous things a person can do. Each time a driver gets into the driver’s seat of a car, they are responsible for their lives and others lives. Growing up I was extremely close to my grandparents, and went up to their farm a lot. I was in love with their two patterdale terriers, Miggie and Maggie. They were the best farm dogs, smarter than was probably good for them and so sweet. Miggie was killed in a car accident, by a farm hand, making me learn and promise myself, at the young age of 10, to always drive responsibly.

I was 4 when I met Miggie and Maggie for the first time. They weren’t used to little girls being around, they only had my grandparents up at the farm, and at first I’m sure I annoyed them. I was also an only child at the time, so being inside when my grandparents and parents were talking or playing cards wasn’t all that exciting. I would pretend like Miggie, Maggie and I were going on adventures together, across the creek and through my grandparents grape vines. When I was 6 my mom had to get surgery on her knee so my grandparents offered to watch me for the weekend. As usual, I found myself outside with the dogs as soon as I got up until Grandma would make me come in to shower. One of the nights while I was up there, after a hard day of playing, Grandma called me in to take my shower, which I did, and then changed me into my pajamas. She told me I could go downstairs and watch the movie that she had put on while she finished cleaning the kitchen. However, I had different plans. Not two minutes after she set me down to watch the movie I was out the front door, finding the dogs and playing with them… again. I started following Miggie and Maggie like I always did, but this time Maggie smelled something in the cornfields. Keep in mind, this was August, when the corn is taller than a grown man. I was also not an extremely intelligent kid, so sticking to character, I just followed her right into the cornfield. I was following her for a good 5 minutes before it dawned on me that in a 360 degree circle, the only thing I saw was corn. After my initial freak out, I figured my best bet was to start screaming at the top of my lungs. I heard my Grandpa yelling my name back, followed his voice and eventually got out. I swore for years that I almost died that day, almost got lost and never made it out, but, just a couple years ago, my Grandpa informed me that I was about 20 feet away from the edge of the cornfield.

All in all, Miggie, Maggie and I were extremely close. I loved those dogs like they were my own. But, when I was 10 my Mom picked me up from school like she did everyday, but not like everyday she was quiet instead of bombarding me with questions about how my day was. I asked her what was wrong and she quietly told me that Miggie had passed away. That was the first time in my life that I had to deal with the death of anyone, person or pet. My heart was broken, and while in the grand scheme of life, it’s not the most difficult thing that anyone has had to deal with, it was definitely one of the most depressing things I had ever dealt with. She explained to me that a farm hand had come to feed the cows, had been on his phone when driving down, didn’t see Miggie and accidentally ran over her. To me, imagining that and having to picture that made it even worse. I remember promising myself that I would never be put in that position, which meant that I would always be as safe of a driver as I could be.

In conclusion, when you choose to become a driver, you also choose to put your life and the lives of others and their loved ones in your hands. Maggie passed away a year ago, just because of old age, but I still think about them frequently. I loved those dogs, and could have had many more years of adventures. So, I implore you, whoever’s reading this, to put yourselves in others shoes when you’re on the road. Drive how you would want people around your pets, your children, your parents, whoever you hold most dear, to drive, because you just might be.