Very close to death experiences - what would your last words have been?
I flew off an overpass once during a bad rain storm on a black top road with inadequate lighting. As I was airborne in my vehicle & thought I was going to die I said " Oh shit" before the vehicle landed and the air bag blew up in my face
Once before being robbed I told the man I worked with that the guy walking in was going to rob us & he said " Women are so paranoid". A couple of minutes later the guy was at the counter and stuck a gun in my face. I didn't say anything , but I did shoot a 'I told you so asshole' look towards my co worker.
Most of the time on very close calls my go to last words seem to be 'oh shit'.
I'd like to think I'm more profound than that, but nope I'm a plain old 'oh shit ' person.
What would your last words have been?
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm really glad you survived them and are here today, among us.
Have you written about your trickery that helped you get away? Must be most interesting.
I've a medical problem I'll write about.
In hindsight, is there a smart way to die? 
I've only had one near death experience. I was travelling on a 2 lane road late on a Sunday night. I was on my way back to school. I had spent the weekend with my parents and really wasn't in a great mood about having an 8:00 AM class the following morning. Some asshole passed me in one of those jacked up 4-wheel drive trucks and then slowed down once in front of me. I followed him for a mile or 2 doing less than the speed limit. Finally I decided I would pass the dumb fuck in an area that I was very familiar with...a long straight section of road with good visibility of any on coming headlights for at least 2 miles.
Here is where teh stupid kicked in. I was a little pissed because the schmuck had passed me and slowed down. I laid back a few hundred feet and floored my accelerator. I wanted to zoom past this asshole at a good clip. 
When my car was almost clear of the asshole, I hit a little dip in the road and it caused the car to begin to fish tail. I steered left to correct, right to correct, and things just got worse. I ended up 180 degrees the wrong direction. The car was moving in reverse and I was flying off the road.
It seemed like my mind was processing the whole thing at light speed. I remember thinking that it was good the car was skidding off the road instead of rolling over, but I knew there were trees in the general area that would likely be what stopped me. I was going backwards so I couldn't actually see what I was about to hit. My last thought was total exasperation at the stupidity of how I was about to die. I spent my entire childhood and teenage years busting my ass in pursuit of knowledge. All those nights wasted studying when I could have been out partying like other teens. All that wasted effort about to be thrown away because I was in a hurry.
Then the car came to a rather uneventful stop mired in thick goopey mud. I was relieved, embarassed, and pissed off all at the same time. What a stupid fucking way to die! The asshole in the 4x4 just kept going.
household cleaners / lack of ventilation
she left behind a husband and very young sons 
I want to be remembered. 
I have had two such moments. One when I was glacier skiing and someone cut me off. I had no place to go without smashing into a crowd of people so I went head first into a snow bank. I could feel my neck roll and my bones pop and I just thought, "Wow, so I guess that's it then - pretty stupid way to go."
The other was when I was body surfing at a beach and a similar thing happened. A large wave caught me and brought me crashing down on a sand dune - on my head again and I felt like my neck was breaking. I had the same reaction.
Both times it was very slow motion but I was very matter-of-fact about it. It's strange, because I have this fear of dying a violent, painful, traumatic death, but maybe when you are going through it, you don't experience it quite like you think you would. 
I had something very similar happen to me!
The difference is that I was on an icy road, going home from college to see my family for the weekend. I could see this huge semi- coming from a mile away. He was descending a mountain and so was I--we were just coming from different directions. We were the only vehicles on the road.
My car went into a skid. Now I was going down the mountain sideways. I was not going off the road--that would have been way better than being broadsided by a semi. For some reason this car stayed right on the road--it just wanted to skid sideways. I was having all kinds of time to contemplate my demise.
I had no urge to say anything, though. I was intensely thinking, trying to figure out what to do to save myself. I even recall thinking about the advice I'd been given for that situation. Steering into the skid and not slamming the brakes would be hard enough, let alone while facing a semi- barreling down a mountain.
It worked like a charm. I'll never forget pulling myself out of that skid and then seconds later, feeling the intense force of the truck going past me.
Cher
I learned all the strokes as a kid. Belonged to a swim club where we had 2 acres of water in a pond for swimming. Docks and diving boards, slides and a raft. It was practically like a summer camp. A graduated program of "badges" that kids earned and wore the badge on their swimsuit so lifeguards could see at a glance the level of every kid's swimming ability. I swam competitively on the swim team. The Red Cross junior lifesaving class was a requirement
for the highest badge level (which I achieved at 13). But it wasn't the ocean with waves and rip currents. I had some ocean swimming experience, but not a lot when we moved to California when I was 14.
I really had a very healthy respect for the ocean after that day. Have never really liked playing in the waves since then. Did get PADI open water certified in my 30's so I could dive with my husband. But we gave up SCUBA for snorkeling years ago.
I'm glad you heard the voice of your coach. It probably did save your life.
for the power of it. I was always a strong swimmer and thought I was invincible. This showed me that I was not. I am now very afraid of the ocean. Ever since then, I have preferred pools.
I am glad you came through ok too. I don't think anyone understands that fear unless they have been through it. We are lucky we had been taught how to swim. A lot of people don't have that privilege and they panic when they get in that situation.
Was riding in a car that spun out on an icy bridge one winter while I was in high school back in the 60's. Passenger side, of course with my buddy driving. The median had one of those fence setups with heavy posts connected by cables. One of the posts basically hit me in the shoulder after we spun a time or two. At least we didn't roll.
Anyway, that wasn't when I thought I was going to buy the farm. Wandering around on the freeway after the crash and before any help got there (this was about 30 years before cell phones) other cars were still traveling down the road. Light fog, the bridge was essentially on a gentle curve on the freeway. This other car came barreling across the bridge, spun out, and was heading for me broadside. I tried to jump to the side and slipped on the slick pavement along the shoulder of the road. The car missed me by about 10-15 feet, I guess. Seemed more like inches.
Don't recall ever coming that close again. But yeah, Oh shit! would have been my exit lines.
