It can happen to anyone, that one conceivably small, stupid little mistake that you make in a split second that ends up haunting you years later. In my case it was taking a turn a bit too fast, catching my wheel in a rut, and eventually wreaking the car I loved more than any other. Not only was the result painful at the time of the crash, but six years later to this day I can still feel the repercussions of my decision. First of all I still miss that car, that thing had character, and to this day I still wish I could find myself a replacement, though I understand that will never happen. Then comes the most expensive piece, insurance, the 100-pound gorilla that I"m sure most everyone can relate to. The amount of money I had to fork over to the insurance company for the next three years due to my reckless decision was embarrassingly high, likely enough to buy another car if I had the guts to add it all up. While the money paid out to the insurance company really hurt, the hit to my ego and my confidence level hit me much harder. Now a simple decision to breeze through a yellow light or make a legal pass on a deserted stretch of two lane road often brings upon a second or third take before making the decision to execute, this unfortunately will plague me for the rest of my life. So what have I learned from all of this? As simple as it may sound, it all comes to this; "make the intelligent decision," something that I've preached to myself everyday since that split second catastrophe.
