Life can be a game of inches sometimes.
Sometimes that can be taken literally, and other times figuratively.
But the fact is that we’ve all dodged a bullet or two in our lives. And, based on the company you keep, you might have even been in WAY more stickier situations than most folks out there.
As my Dad used to say, “nothing good happens after midnight.” It turns out he was pretty much right about that.
What’s the biggest bullet you’ve ever dodged?
Let’s see what AskReddit users had to say about this.
1. Good thing you found that.
“I found a carbon monoxide detector in our garage, brand new, unopened one day.
I thought, this isn’t doing us any good here, so I took it to the basement and hooked it up.
2 days later it went off as our furnace got clogged with something and our basement filled up with fumes. We evacuated and the fire department came and blew out the house with some big fans.
Then some guy came on an emergency service call and fixed our furnace.
My wife, 3 kids, dog, and I may have all died if I hadn’t hooked that thing up.”
2. Cult-like.
“My dad had died recently, I realized my crush didn’t have the slightest sympathy for me, and my academic performance was crumbling.
One day after an exam I broke in tears and some dude from my department (Computer Science) approached and comforted me. He invited me to some amazing help group that was “changing his life”. The only downside is that it was expensive as f*ck, “but it’s totally worth it”. I had some savings and took some days to decide if I enter.
Before I could give an answer, I got H1N1 (yep, that was in 2009) and fell in bed for two weeks, then I got varicella and fell another two weeks. By then the group thing had faded and I lost contact with the dude.
I found out later that the d*mn group was a cult-like LGAT scam. Everyone who entered (a big chunk of the CS department) wasted lots of money and f*cked up their lives at different levels. Many took long time to recover, some of them are still nuts.
Of course the most damaged were the emotionally weakened… just like me at that point. Big bullet dodged.”
3. On the road.
“I was in my teens, riding as a passenger in my grandmother’s car.
I heard a little high pitched scraping noise on the car roof briefly. Looked out behind us and there’s a tree about a meter and a half wide down on the road behind us.
The scrape was the tips of the outer branches making contact before the trunk didn’t quite kill us.”
4. Scary.
“A couple of years ago I went camping with my parents.
My dad was setting up the camper on blocks while it was still attached to the back hitch. I was talking with my dad while he was removing the hitch and casually had my hand on the edge of the truck bed.
I moved my hand to gesture something, and about 2 seconds later the camper fell off the blocks and fell onto the truck bed.”
5. Motorcycle accident.
“Approaching an intersection late at night on my motorcycle.
Didn’t see the massive patch of sand that had somehow been spread out across the road. Went to brake, rear wheel locked and I slid into the intersection. Came to a stop in the middle of the first lane.
Saw something big and white out of the corner of my vision. Was a truck. Gassed it just a bit to get out of the way, and the bike was clipped a couple inches behind my body, hard enough for the muffler to be pushed up against the chain.
Impact threw me over the handlebars. Time slowed down while I was in the air and I remember thinking “it’s taking a really long time to hit the ground.”
Flew completely over two lanes of traffic and landed on my hands and feet in the middle of the intersection with cars traveling in opposite directions on either side of me.
Stood up. No sliding, not a scratch on me. Helmet never touched the ground.”
6. Creep.
“Used to flirt with this guy at work. He was a single dad, I’m a single mom (though his kids are much older).
He was always asking about my kids and once, I ran into him at Target when they were with me and he was super nice to both of them. My daughter even asked me why I didn’t date him when he was so nice and he seemed like he liked me.
When I saw him at work the next day, he asked me to come hang out with him sometime soon. I didn’t give him a solid yes because I really don’t think dating someone you work with is a good idea, but he was winning me over.
A few months after that I go into work and he’s suddenly being escorted from the building by security. Turns out he was rooted out in an FBI sting for soliciting underage girls in chat rooms – he even used his work computer for a lot of his activity.
He was sending videos of himself rubbing one out to girls as young as eleven (or so he thought). My daughter was close to that age. He was convicted on fivr or six counts (I forget) and all I can think about is my obviously horrible taste in men.”
7. Good timing.
“4th grade I rode my bike home everyday.
This day I decided I was gonna wait outside to ask a girl out. It took 5 min. As I got home I saw 3 dudes hauling *ss out of my house into a white van.
Our house was robbed. Of I had gotten home earlier they may have robbed my house as I was eating my daily bowl of frosted flakes.”
8. Drugged.
“I was 27, too old, really, for the college bar I was in.
But it was walking distance to my apartment. And it was Thursday might and the well drinks were four hot bucks. So I ordered a cheap shi*ty well drink and then went to go smoke a cigarette outside.
Everybody says that getting Roofied isn’t a thing. That it’s women who can’t handle their liquor. Bullsh*t. I came back in, finished that one watered-down ladies’- night drink…and suddenly I couldn’t stand up. My legs were just useless.
My roommate at the time saw two guys trying to haul me out of the bar. (I vaguely remember this.) She screamed at the bouncer not to let them take me, then fireman-carried my *ss a mile home and put me to bed. Terri, you da real MVP.”
9. Mother Nature.
“A lightning strike.
I was 16ish and my mom was naaaaagging me to take the dinner scraps out to the backyard to toss in the compost bin. I asked if it could wait till the next day, a storm was rolling in and I really didn’t feel like getting caught in it.
I argued (read: I whined) with her for only a few moments when we heard a huge BOOM and felt the house shake. The house illuminated in that moment, a huge flash of light and sound, silencing us. We gingerly open the sliding glass door and look in the backyard.
Lightning struck the house/ground right by the house. Right where I would have been standing if I was dumping scraps in the compost bin.
The ground was scorched, and all I did was triumphantly announce “SEE? PROCRASTINATION SAVES THE DAY”.”
10. Very lucky.
“I once woke up in a house that was on fire.
We were all up until about 4 am drinking. The fire started in a wall around 6 am, so everybody was totally passed out.
By the time a random passerby kicked the door in and woke us up, the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
We all nearly died, so I’d say that qualifies as dodging a bullet.”
11. WOW.
“Was supposed to be at meeting in the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001.
Decided on the weekend to travel home and cancelled the meetings.
If I hadn’t I would have been right there when the planes hit.”
12. Could have had a different life.
“Me, at 16, started dating a girl who would go on to be my long term high school gf. She was about 1 year younger.
We were toxic, but I thought she was hot and we took each others virginity. At the time we started dating, she was about 5’2″, maybe 90 lbs soaking wet. Fast forward to when I was 17, getting ready to leave for the service in a couple months.
GF turns up pregnant, had stopped taking birth control because she wanted my baby. Literally was going to marry her because her father threatened me. She miscarried the baby about 2 months into it.
Called off the wedding and wound up leaving for the service. I broke it off with her 6 weeks later. She is now about 350 lbs and has 5 kids (with 3 different dads).
Major sigh of relief.”
13. Close call.
“I was 8 and when i went to stay with my dad on the weekend visits, i would sleep in his camper.
The door was broken and you had to stick a knife in it and pry it open. Being only 8 I wasn’t strong enough to open it by myself no matter how hard I tried. and had to get my dad to do it.
One weekend I stayed with my dad and went to a family members party. Being Mexicans, the party went on thru the night. About midnight or so he came and asked me if I was ready to go home. He said he would drop me off so I could get some sleep but i was having a good time and opted to stay.
A couple hours later he came and got me and we headed home to see the camper fully engulfed in flames. My grandma was outside and had burns all over her hands and forearms and a big one on her scalp from trying to get inside.
She was sure I was still in there and was sobbing hysterically when we pulled up.”
Okay, now it’s your turn.
What are some of the scariest bullets that you’ve ever dodged?
Tell us your stories in the comments!
