About seven or eight years ago on a nice summer day, I learned a lesson. I learned something that I knew before but just never paid attention to when my family told me. I should have though. All those times my family had told me not to do it, it took it happening to me to make me more cautious about crossing again. I should have just listened to them but I was so young. I did not know any better. I know I probably should have listened but I didn't.
My mom and I were having a great day together. We just stayed at home all day, playing some board games, talking to each other, and cleaning the house. When we were cleaning the house, my mom realized that she had to go and get some bread from the store. My mom and I left our house and went to the Dollar Store in Austin, Indiana. This is when the Dollar store was still in the strip where Marco's Pizza is.
We didn't live far from the Dollar store. On our ride there, my mom and I listened to music in the car. When we arrived, we parked and got out. We had to cross the street to get to the Dollar Store. "Always remember to look both ways before crossing the street." my mom had always told me. We had to cross the road to get to the Dollar store but we made sure to look both ways. When we crossed the road, my mom made me hold her hand until we got across. We went into the Dollar store and when we did, all I wanted to do was to go run around the store and not be around my mom. Well, my mom did not let that happen.
"Hold onto my hand. Stay with me." she told me with a soft, sweet voice and then she grabbed my hand.
"But mommy, I want to play." I said to her with the saddest voice I could make as possible.
"You can play when we get home." she said back to me but this time a little more stern than before.
I did not want to hold on to my mom's hand, so I decided to try and pry her fingers off of my hand but in the end, I failed at trying to do so and just let it be. When we went to check out, she let go of my hand and said, "Stay right here, Ashlynn." and reached into her purse to pull out her wallet. Lucky for my mom, I did what she told me to do. I stayed where I was and did not take off.
Once my mom had paid and got her bag, she grabbed a hold of my hand and we walked outside into the hot, yet cooling summer air. In this moment of time, I wanted to run and play again because it felt great outside. So I started to try and pull my mom's hand from mine. Finally, I got my hand away from hers and started to run across the street, but the thing is, when I went to run across the road, I didn't look both ways. That was a mistake that I shouldn't have let happen.
When I was halfway across the street, I heard my mom screaming my name. I turned to look at her and when I did, I saw a red truck heading right towards me. I just frozen there in the middle of the road.. I didn't know what to do. Lucky enough for me, the man driving the truck must have seen me and slammed on his brakes just in time because the next thing I knew, the truck was stopped right in front of me and my mom was at my side pulling me off of the street and onto the sidewalk.
"Don't you ever do that again, ever!" my mom said to me very angrily. "Why would you do that? You know what could have happened! You could have been killed!"
"I'm sorry mommy." I said back to her with a slightly shaking voice and tears in my eyes. She looked down at me with worryful eyes and then took me into her embrace.
"Ashlynn, never do that again, do you hear me? Never again." my mom said to me in my ear softly. She let me out of her embrace and looked at me. She and I didn't even notice a man beside us.
"Are you guys ok?" he asked my mom and I, but mostly asking me. I didn't reply to the man so my mom did for me.
"Yes, we are fine. I just want to thank you for not hitting my daughter and I am truly sorry that this happened." she said to the man
"I'm glad to hear that you are both fine. I hope both of you have a wonderful day." the man said to my mom and I. Then, he walked away, got into his truck, and drove off.
"Ashlynn, let's go home. Go get in the car." my mom said to me and I did what she told me to do.
I got in the car and my mom and I drove home in silence. I know now to always look before crossing because I do not want to get hit by a vehicle and be either injured or killed. So on that summer day, I learned that I needed to start listening to people that could help me be more careful and reasonable about situations that I could be put in.
