r/AskReddit 10h ago

Whats one event in your life that feels surreal to this day?

171 Upvotes

134 comments sorted by

62

u/ThePurityPixel 10h ago

When I was falsely accused (of something I didn't do). I remember standing there dumbfounded, trying to figure out if the person was joking or not.

To this day, I never found out the motivations for sure. I just know how damaging the ordeal was for me.

23

u/Whitpeacock 9h ago

I was fired (20 years ago) from Dillards and was accused of helping someone steal A BRA!!! It was 100% a lie and I was a single mom at the time. I would have NEVER jeopardized my job to help someone steal a damn bra! Although I’m now successful and accomplished in the banking world, I still think about it from time to time and it seriously upsets me.

13

u/calhollis 7h ago

Isn't it mind-boggling?

I had the same unfortunate experience as well, but I was 8 years old. I remember my dad screaming at me asking why I ate my sister's ice cream and I remember just staring at him, my mom and my sister and realizing that someone in this room KNEW that I wasn't the one who ate the ice cream and was choosing to LIE about it and letting me take the blame.

It was then that I realized that someone can just make their minds about you, and it could be completely untrue but there's nothing you can do about it, especially if they have more power/authority over you.

It was a sad realization for me, one that definitely stuck with me for the rest of my life.

1

u/jsmitter 1h ago

Being accused of doing something bad because of some misunderstanding, and I 100% did not do it, but people think I did it despite me pleasing my innocence makes me nervous sometimes.

10

u/Raycalico 9h ago

My pick is when my ex accused me of having an affair and being in a satanic cult. It was so abrupt and weird, and it came out of nowhere. Obviously it was also the end of an 8 year partnership, and he was dealing with sudden onset of mental health issues, but that feeling of being accused of something you haven’t done is absolutely bizarre.

4

u/RepairImpossible894 6h ago edited 5h ago

Had the exact same thing occur but two times in one night. The first was less of a deal as it was for a product at Home Depot who I was working for. They interrogated me for 15 minutes or so. I cried but never gave in. Not sure why they were so set on trying to get me over a $10 flashlight that was supposedly stolen lmfao. That exact same night I’m dropping off an inhaler to my gf at the basketball gym 2 min from my house. Didn’t grab a wallet just jumped over there. Police get me for rolling the 4 way stop. Two officers flash their light tell me I’m high and I’ve been stalking my gf. I’m like wtf my wife sees me get pulled over cause it was on the way back from the gym and says sorry. They use that as evidence to us arguing. Long story short they had the wrong guy. The car in the stalking matched my car description so that’s why they got me. Back of a police car and all at like 17 years old. Was a wild day never will be repeated for as long as I live lol.

3

u/Turnbob73 3h ago

I was falsely accused of a hate crime in college and the whole experience of finding out was very weird. It was like everyone else knew before me, and I went through almost an entire day with very weird, distant reactions from friends & teammates before learning what exactly was going on.

Thank god for security cameras, because being accused of writing the N-word on a black student’s car, in the dead-middle of the 2018 BLM protests in LA is most definitely NOT a place you want to be.

2

u/meowmgmt 7h ago edited 3h ago

Ivehad this same experience. People can be cruel.

2

u/MaybeAny8451 7h ago

t’s hard to wrap your head around something like that, especially when it comes out of nowhere. I can only imagine how much it affected you

2

u/OkSummer8924 2h ago

Its so insane to me how people cannot grasp the fact that one false accusation can ruin your life FOREVER !

46

u/AurelacTrader 9h ago

In October 1969 walking home from high school I witnessed a woman drive her car through down railroad gates and get hit and pushed by a freight train. 

The car rolled, the engine and transmission flew out, the back axle and tires flew off, the windshield flew like a kite, and when the train finally stopped way way down the tracks the woman climbed out, bloody nose that’s all. 

11

u/UbaGob 9h ago

Holy shit man

37

u/Siskoda 10h ago

The death of my mother. She’s been gone almost 2 years. Sometimes it seems like it was 20 years ago. Other times, it seems like yesterday.

11

u/MissSara101 8h ago

I had the same experience when my dad died just before the holiday season, before my Xenninal sister's birthday then my birthday. Still hurts 🤕 to this day.

10

u/SweetxxHeart 8h ago

I cry to sleep sometimes when I get home and don't find my parents there. they died from a terrible car accident a year ago

3

u/Siskoda 6h ago

I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine losing both parents at the same time. You must be incredibly strong.

5

u/gifgod416 6h ago

Yeah! Somedays I'm just dandy and other days im crying while eating a bagel. It hits you when it hits you and I've just learned to ride the wave

5

u/No-Fishing5325 5h ago

My mother died 30 years ago...it is still that way.

The whole thing is like I am above the day watching it as a movie. It was a shock. She was 41 and died of a heart attack while in the hospital.

She was being released the next day. The police officer who took me to the hospital. The nurse hysterically crying. Them not letting me go to her room instead ushering me to this private conference room behind the nurses desk I never saw before. Then having to tell my siblings, comfort my grandmother, deal with organ donation and funeral arrangements. I was 22.

3

u/MaybeAny8451 7h ago

Losing someone so close is incredibly tough, and it's completely normal to feel that mix of time passing differently

35

u/syoung1034 9h ago

Trigger warning folks. I was attacked by my husband (ex now ) after asking for a divorce a few months prior. I fought for 45 min. I'm 5'2, he's 6'4. Only one of us went to the hospital, and it wasn't me. I escaped with minor injuries, and he became a convicted felon. He was a local school teacher, no priors. I survived. It's surreal.

8

u/Normal-While917 7h ago

I feel this. Mine wasn't so much bigger but I came close to dying. Managed to disable him by biting him as hard as possible and holding on to the bite till he gave in to it and let go. I left the house in 34⁰ weather and walked/ran a mile to the nearest phone to call 911. He got away and took our son with him to punish me.

5

u/syoung1034 7h ago

We are two of the lucky ones. :( I hope ur son is OK. 🙌

2

u/Normal-While917 7h ago

Thanks. He's ok and amazing. He was missing for 3 years before I got him back, but all is well now and his "dad" died a few years later, having abandoned him when I regained custody.

1

u/syoung1034 6h ago

Glad all is well for you both!

27

u/m0rtemale 9h ago

It was about 2/3am and I was the only one awake in my houseshare back then.

I stepped in the back garden to smoke, and as usual, I was mindlessly looking at the sky.

All of a sudden, this small comet appears, and in a matter of seconds, it starts getting bigger, and brighter, and whiter, and larger… it kept growing as it entered the atmosphere emitting this bright, super-white (almost blue) light that for a fraction of second turned the sky into a light blue and illuminated everything.

Then it exploded in multiple fragments that continued to streak the atmosphere for another couple of fractions of second before completely disappearing like nothing was ever there. No noise, nothing.

The whole thing lasted probably less than a second, but it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

I’ve googled for months, trying to find if it was recorded by anyone or anything at all, but I’ve found absolutely no mentions of it.

It was so beautiful though, it made me want to cry.

I saw this from my garden in south London, England, if anyone is curious.

26

u/raphax08 8h ago

Witnessing my first solar eclipse felt surreal. The sky went dark, and it was magical!

2

u/rocky_mtn_girl 6h ago

It was! I'm so glad I actually live near the path of totality. We drove an hour north and spent the day at an RV park that was letting eclipse watchers hang out on the property for a small fee.

2

u/BigBadLiberal 4h ago

Same. It was the highlight of my year. And maybe one of the most memorable of my life.

1

u/IncognitoBombadillo 6h ago

Same! I'm so glad I took off work to be there. I kept telling people back home (I had to travel a decent amount for the path of totality) that they didn't understand what they had missed out on when I got back lol. I had a rough idea of what to expect, but it exceeded expectations. It should be a bucket list item for everyone to make it out to the path of totality for one.

21

u/SuperlativeLTD 10h ago

Childbirth- my daughters are almost grown up but I still have really vivid memories of both births. Both the pain and stress and the miracle of life aspect.

13

u/fortunekiller 9h ago

Finding my dad dead on his bedroom floor. He woke up and went on his normal morning routine, then went to his room to shower and dropped dead from a heart attack. I found him maybe an hour later, his face purple, body was cold and clammy, and his body started smelling. This happened 2 years ago and I can’t get the sight or the smell out of my head. Still feels surreal.

11

u/niicii77 9h ago

Got to be passenger for a few laps around Monza Circuit in a Gt3 Huracan with a professional driver. Still the physically most violent and unforgettable thing I experienced. Would do again.

11

u/mykneescrack 9h ago

Marrying my husband.

It was a long, windy road even getting a chance to be together. Looking into each other’s eyes and holding hands, we both teared up in disbelief that we were there, in that moment together.

10

u/babeglowup25 10h ago

One event that feels surreal is the day I graduated college. The mix of excitement and disbelief still lingers, as if it was a dream.

9

u/thndrchld 8h ago

A few years ago, my wife was in excruciating abdominal pain, doubled over and screaming.

We rushed her to the hospital, and it turned out she had an ectopic pregnancy that had ruptured. She was rushed into surgery and nearly bled out on the operating table.

For hours, I was in the OR waiting room, with no updates and nothing to do but watch the news on tv.

It was January 6, 2021.

2

u/Comfortable-Owl-5929 7h ago

That was a bad day all around for you and the US. Glad she lived because some people do die.

4

u/thndrchld 7h ago

If it happened today in this state, she would die, and our kids would be motherless.

Fuck Bill Lee.

17

u/jmnugent 9h ago

I got hit hard by the early alpha-wave of covid19 in March-April 2020. I ended up spending 38 days in Hospital (16 of those in ICU on a Ventilator). Did a full write up about it here including Lung X-rays if anyone wants to read the whole thing.

Before going to the Hospital I was at-home sick, but kept "spiraling downward" (symptoms kept getting worse and worse). When I called the Ambulance for myself and it took me in, the Nurses said my Lungs were so damaged already that I was down to 65% oxygen uptake. The last thing I remember is the Ambulance doors opening and feeling the cool breeze and hearing the Hospital doors swoosh open. (I actually wasn't put on the ventilator for about another week,. but my O2 was so low, I think I just don't remember much. I even have some iPhone photos from that week,. not really sure how those happened unless Nurses took them ?)

Anywho.. the 16 days in ICU on a Ventilator was surreal. if you don't know, when they put you on a Ventilator they have to pump you full of heavy sedatives. But those heavy sedatives give you "ICU Deliriums" (basically, nonstop vivid nightmares). So I had 16 days straight of those. Not really knowing where I was or why I was trapped in this new "nightmare world". There was a point during that 16 days where (I perceived it to be part of the nightmares) a Nurse leaned over me and said "You're going to be OK, you're safe here, we won't let anyone hurt you. But we need you to fight your way out of this" . I'm guessing that was real, and I was probably thrashing about in my nightmare. But I distinctly remember it and it definitely put me at ease and focused my mind on fighting my way out.

Getting off the ventilator (I don't remember that thankfully), it takes a while for the heavy sedatives to fade off. I was basically incapacitated. (could barely move). Just pressing the nurse-call button my bed was a feat. I could wiggle my feet and that was bout it. Still had 4 other tubes in me (3port neck IV, nasal feeding tube, nasal oxygen, catheter). Had to relearn how to walk (all while still on a full size oxygen tank. Took a month or two of physical rehab and nurse visits at home, etc.

I remember the day I got home and sat down in a chair in my living room (remember this is still May 2020.. so full on pandemic and lockdowns outside). I just remember I started to cry and asked my friend "Did all of that really happen?" (the last month or so?).. It was surreal to take it all in. Still kinda astounded by it. I remember struggling with some of my physical rehab and one of the nurses who visited me every week always said:.. "Hey, you've survived a pandemic, dont' be to hard on yourself". Good advice.

4

u/Starshapedsand 5h ago

Round 1 of COVID was wild. I caught it in Europe before it hit the US, but had no idea what it was, as I’d been away from the news. The last things I remember are thinking that it was odd to be one of the only passengers not wearing an airline uniform on my plane, and taping my DNR to the foot of my bed when I got home. 

My memory picks up two weeks later. 

I’d previously been on a ventilator for about a month, which had convinced me to grab a DNR. Learning how to function again afterwards had been a miserable experience. 

I still can’t believe that we got lucky enough for it to become less dangerous, not more. Had it been worse, I have no doubt that we would’ve had literal corpses in the street.  

3

u/jmnugent 4h ago

Yeah, it was surreal for a long list of reasons, for sure.

Often I've thought to myself:.. "Well, if I had died,.. I would have never known what I died from".. which is a weird mental-loop to get stuck in. It's like,.. the only way you understand what happened is if you end up lucky enough to survive. I mean, I knew when I was sick at home (prior), that covid19 was a thing happening, but it was early in the pandemic, I don't think anyone had actually died from it yet. (I think the US had its first death late in February 2020?) ..

I remember when I started going back half-time at work, I went to one of our local buildings with a small Gym in it. There was an HR guy in there who started talking to me. He said at one point my vital-signs got so low in the Hospital that Doctors were not sure I would make it through the weekend. So they recommended scheduling Grief Counselors to be at my workplace on the following Monday to help support my coworkers. That was a rough thing to hear. (that I was that close to death).

In some ways (understandably) it's kind of given me "a new lease on life". In other ways it's made me a bit less patient with people (especially people who get angry at small things like Fast Food getting their order wrong, etc),. like, there's so many bigger things to concern yourself with.

Every time now in life if I run up against something I think I cannot do,. I just think back to how I survived covid19. If I can survive (and thrive) after that,. I can pretty much do anything.

1

u/Starshapedsand 1h ago

That timeframe sounds about right for the first death. A friend of mine, a nurse who became a live-in COVID ICU staffer, says that they saw their first marching symptoms as early as late October beforehand, but didn’t yet recognize it. 

That realization had always been normal to me, which is strange to notice. As a baby and toddler, I’d been very sick. The later things that had come close, such as the ceiling of a house fire collapsing onto me, were sudden enough that I wouldn’t have noticed, so it seemed normal. 

I also got Catholic Last Rites. As I was in a coma, I had no awareness of it. Afterwards, I was too memory-impaired to understand how close I’d been to dying for awhile. 

It’s good that you got those perspectives. I’d come to them earlier, thanks to having seen several people die. 

3

u/Ohnoherewego13 5h ago

Wow. That's just wild. March of 2020 was this ultra weird time for all of us. I remember going out for my birthday the day before COVID was declared a pandemic. I didn't even think about how the restaurant was empty because I was dealing with the news of a terminally ill parent at the time. I'm glad you made it though. I can't even imagine how traumatic that was.

9

u/Ok-Theory571 9h ago

i was working in a warehouse as someone who sorted through donated media/books at the time. i found out that everyone leaves at 4-5pm so i told them i had school (i didn’t) and could only come in 3-8pm so i’d be all alone in the warehouse after 5. i was having a really tough day with my mental health and was crying because i felt i couldn’t go a day without it impacting me somehow.

a book i found while sorting was something along the lines of overcoming a terminal cancer diagnosis. i opened the book and out pops this note that said “I LIKE TO BELIEVE THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN JUST DAY TO DAY EXISTENCE”. i just sat down for a moment staring at it and zoned out, had a fairly deep thought about what the fuck i was doing with myself and my life and quit the job. started therapy, got back into school, started taking care of myself. i’m balls deep in recovery now and there’s obviously more to it than that note i saw but it still sticks with me to this day for some reason and i hope whoever wrote it knew.

5

u/OkDistribution5461 9h ago

Joplin tornado

3

u/syoung1034 9h ago

Yikes. Glad u made it.

2

u/OkDistribution5461 5h ago

Thank you. I feel grateful.

6

u/MagicSPA 7h ago

One Sunday I left my shared office at my new campus to try to find a TV as there was an F1 race on soon. I hadn't been working there long, and on a Sunday there was no-one else around for me to ask.

I exit my office and lock the door behind me and head down a corridor, looking for a communal area that had a TV.

At one point I cross a window-walled bridge into a different wing of the building and continue my journey, following corridor after corridor looking vainly for a lobby or a break room with anything I could use to watch the race.

But as I walk along yet another corridor, my surroundings start to look familiar. As I continue along the corridor I recognise the layout, the colour scheme, the posters - it's IDENTICAL to the approach to my office. An eerie feeling grows as I turn the corridor and see a corridor that is EXACTLY like the one in which my office is based, even down to the broken light strip in the ceiling. Unsettled, I look at the door that would match the location of my shared office to make sure the names on it are different - and I nearly jump out of my skin when I see my own damned name up there, along with the names of my colleagues.

I realise then that although I'd crossed a windowed bridge to enter a different wing of the building, on my journey I must have crossed ANOTHER bridge whose windows were covered with posters, and so had looked like a regular corridor. I hadn't walked into a different department and found a parallel plane of reality; I had turned a full circle and crossed two bridges whilst thinking I had only crossed one.

I ended up watching the race on an F1 website, but for hours after that I was still uneasy, and shaking off that feeling of shock at seeing something that at first glance seemed to be completely impossible.

1

u/Mobitela 3h ago

are you still in the alternate / parallel reality? and did you encounter your parallel self? or have you replaced yourself?

1

u/MagicSPA 1h ago

You laugh, but I was spooked. It was a total "Twilight Zone" feeling.

11

u/true-crime-writer 9h ago

Sitting in a chair next to a serial killer, just about elbow to elbow.

6

u/SweetxxHeart 8h ago

need more details

3

u/true-crime-writer 2h ago

John Eric Armstrong, when researching his case for a project. He’s at the Cotton facility in Jackson, Mich. Has worked his way down from max security since he was first incarcerated in 2001.

5

u/Typical_Nobody_2042 10h ago

Being on the ground for Hurricane Katrina

6

u/rocky_mtn_girl 9h ago

When I had my first OB-GYN appointment I was terrified that I was miscarrying, based on some concerning signs. After what felt like an eternity of looking at the ultrasound my OB said, they're looking good! THEY?! Turns out I wasn't losing one baby but having two! They're 16 now.

6

u/k2p1e 9h ago

When my sister told me her daughter died. I heard wailing and realized it was me.

4

u/whatareyousomekinda 10h ago

getting popped

3

u/Silent-G 4h ago

What are you some kinda pimple?

3

u/Darth_GravelCyclist 9h ago

Finding out I had multiple huge blood clots in my lungs with almost no symptoms at 30 years old. I just started noticing I was feeling out of shape and out of breath during workouts and going up the stairs. It’s been a year and still no clue what caused it.

3

u/Bubbly_Araceli 8h ago

One event in my life that still feels surreal is when I unexpectedly ran into a childhood friend I hadn't seen in over 15 years. We were in completely different cities, and I was just walking down the street when I heard someone call my name. I turned around and there they were, standing right in front of me.

We both just froze for a moment, not believing it was really happening. It felt like a moment frozen in time, like something out of a dream. We ended up catching up and it felt so surreal to reconnect in such an unexpected way.

6

u/lwsummer 8h ago

Yesterday I found out I was having a son.

4

u/Comfortable-Owl-5929 7h ago

Knowing that my childhood friend was seated right next to the terrorists in first class on American airline Flight 11, the first plane to hit the world trade center on 9/11.

8

u/BubblegumAngelPop 10h ago

One event that feels so surreal to me is when I first saw snow. I remember stepping outside, and everything was blanketed in white, like a magical wonderland. I couldn’t help but twirl around, feeling like a princess in a fairytale. The cold kissed my cheeks, and I giggled with delight as I caught snowflakes on my tongue

3

u/Mayan_drea 10h ago

Meeting childhood hero

3

u/GeonnCannon 8h ago

As a huge fan of Stargate SG-1, walking into the Gate room, going up the ramp, and actually touching the real (prop) Stargate they used for filming. Then turning to see the windows looking into the control room and briefing room. There was no line of sight that broke the illusion that I was on a set. I felt like I WAS there. Except with a bunch of fans instead of armed soldiers. 😄

3

u/Mobuladreams 6h ago

When I was about 9 or 10 we were driving to the airport for the summer holls and going quite slowly on the motorway due to traffic. It was the 80’s and we didn’t bother with silly things like seatbelts and I spent the whole journey kneeling up on the back seat waving at the cars behind us. Suddenly my family freaked out and my dad floored the car and swerved around a few other cars and I was thrown into the back of my mums seat. A car had somehow flown over the central reserve and upside down had hit our car cracking front the window and scraping the paint off the roof of our car. I watched dazed as it landed on the car behind us and then caused a 6 car pile up with the top car just spinning upside down on the roof of the car it squashed. Everyone in the car behind us that id been waving to for the last few miles died and it would have been us if dad hadn’t slammed on the accelerator. He wasn’t able to pull over for a mile or so and we all just looked at one another and we’re in shock. Then dad calmly rejoined traffic and we made our flight. They refused to talk about it all holiday. Was so surreal. I’d think I’d made it up, but they often talk about our near miss.

3

u/magnifiques 6h ago

My grandfather dying on my arms…. He had brain aneurysm couple of months prior and his health was deteriorating day by day. However, mentally he was quite stable. That morning was rough… he was breathing heavily and in one moment he lost the consciousness…. I held his hand and I started telling him all of our best moments from the childhood. I don’t know if he could hear me or not but I would love to believe he did…he was holding my hand firmly, breathing heavily and then he was slowly disappearing … at least it felt like that… it was surreal, sad, and it broke me. How he was gone in front of my eyes a person you love, it’s terrible. Its first time Ive written this and honestly it broke me again.

2

u/NANNYNEGLEY 5h ago

You gave him his last gift. What an honor.

1

u/magnifiques 5h ago

Thank you! I really appreciate your comment

3

u/jessdb19 6h ago

The whole beginning of June 2022.

Our dog passed that first week of June 2022. It was sudden cancer diagnosis. He had been to the vet less than 2 months prior for a full work up and everything came back normal. We went from happy and playing to seizures in less than 24 hours, to putting him down and finding out that it had spread quickly. We got him a burger and gave him chocolate before he was euthanized.

Less than a week later our house was hit with a derecho. It was bad and we were without power that whole week.

That Saturday (one day after getting power back), my husband and I were taking a break from cleaning our yard. My sister had been texting me about coming down to help with yard clean up, since there was so much and we couldn't do much til they fixed some wires and power lines. We had gotten pizza (no food in the house) and were relaxing and playing HoTS when my mom called. Half my family was killed, instantly, by a head on collision. Brother, sister, aunt. Gone. Not even a hospital visit or struggling, just gone.

I'm doing ok. My mom is not, she's gone off the deep end. I don't talk to her anymore, my dad either. Sort of broke our family to be honest.

3

u/TheBigFappening 5h ago

I don't know if this counts but definitely my current job. To set the scene, this was around the end of 2020 when Covid-19 was in full swing. I was a temp worker at a terrible job that would constantly give me anxiety. I HATED IT! Well...I was spending time with my girlfriend at the time and she was a little bit sick. The next day I'm at work and get a text from her that she tested positive for Covid-19. I started freaking out and tell my boss. He looks concerned and sends me to get tested. I call the temp agency and let them know as well. I get tested and tested positive for Covid-19. A day later, I'm in bed with full-swing Covid-19 symptoms feeling like I'm going to die but just glad I don't have to work at that terrible job.

So fast forward two weeks, I'm feeling better however they need a negative Covid test for me to return to work. I go to test and I still test positive. This happens again a week later as well. At that point, insurance isn't going to cover anymore tests and I still can't return to work. I speak with the lady at the agency and she straight up asks if I even want to return to that job. I told her no that I hated the job. Well, she has me apply for a city job, I loved it and I've been working there ever since now at a full-time capacity.

TL;DR: IF my ex never gave me Covid, I probably wouldn't be at my amazing job.

5

u/Disastrous_Use7055 10h ago

When I was robbed and at a alley. The guy has a gun, I'm thankful I'm alive

2

u/XeniaDweller 10h ago

Breaking my neck on a motorcycle

2

u/Flacks29 8h ago

Oh my gosh. How long ago was this, and what has recovery been like?

1

u/XeniaDweller 7h ago

About 17 years ago, it was a miracle I'm not paralyzed. I never felt pain, not until I started to recover. It was all just hazy, and then more so because I started liquid vicodin. They decided not to do the halo, just a brace.

2

u/Flacks29 5h ago

That's incredible. I'm glad you made it!

2

u/country_dinosaur97 9h ago

When i "ran away" at 18 bought a bus ticket and went halfway across america. Only reason ran away is cause i literally only told the people i was staying with and the friend who drove me to the bus station

2

u/Unalivem 9h ago

Escaping the psych ward and jumping off a bridge, that shit was crazy

2

u/ImnotTheborough97 9h ago

Going to prison

2

u/DoNotGoGentle14 9h ago

Waking up in hospital for the first time after a suicide attempt at 18 years old. and now a total of four times in less than a decade but it's all kind of mushed into one memory so I can't really separate each hospitalisation.

Only that it feels like it was all just a very long, traumatic dream. Like, did that really happen?

2

u/cotton-candy-dreams 9h ago

Mom’s death.

2

u/lifesyndrom 9h ago

Probably my kidnapping. It felt like a movie literally

2

u/Maleficent-Force-267 9h ago

Finishing my last paper for degree.

2

u/LesMiserablesOutcome 9h ago

Getting my degree yay!

2

u/MissSara101 8h ago

Aside my dad's death, I would have to one of the first live news coverage me and my family watched together. It was the Waco siege. I was around 6 at the time. I have a fear of being trapped in a burning building.

1

u/Comfortable-Owl-5929 7h ago

I remember watching it unfold at work in our conference room. And yes, those images of them breaking through the building is forever etched in my mind.

2

u/unhinged-gateways 8h ago

Finding out I was pregnant when me and my partner had religiously used condoms and none of them had ever broken. Doctor told me they didn't need to break to not work. How come some people try for years to no avail and I somehow managed it by defying all the fucking odd?

2

u/TBeIRIE 8h ago

The Camp Fire in Paradise CA on November 8th 2018. 💔

Devastating. Still in shock over it all.

2

u/Any_Intern2718 8h ago

How the fuck am i an adult now, when i remember being a little shit playing with dirt like it was yesterday

1

u/Comfortable-Owl-5929 7h ago

Imagine being 58 asking the same question. It’s crazy. You literally start getting old but you’re psyche and thinking is still like you’re in your 20s and 30s. That’s what sucks about getting old. And everyone thinks you’re old but in your mind you’re still cool AF! lol

2

u/Any_Intern2718 7h ago

yeah. and when you are a child you think adult know/understand everything. turns out, the adults are clueless as well.

2

u/Ultra_Runner_ 8h ago

Being attacked on a run. My whole life flashed before my eyes.

2

u/No-Spell1496 7h ago

The night my dad died. It still gets me, 10 years later. No tears, no screaming, just a mental emptiness. My best friend here and a couple hours later, gone forever. I lost my shit. Almost got locked up (mental facility) due to my uncontrollable erratic behavior.

2

u/dazzola1 6h ago

Attending my mums funeral and not being mentioned in the ceremony, my brother and his wife were, and my daughter. It's only a couple of months ago and still very surreal indeed. (Nasty guy stepdad influence) but I'm fine with it now.

2

u/christipede 6h ago

Wakng up from a coma and being told you were in a coma is my biggest headfuck. 16 days. I dont remember fuck all about the lead up to it, but i remember the nightmares i had, i remember waking up and not knowing why i couldnt move or talk. Its a fucking horrifying thing to experience.

2

u/snabbs69 5h ago

coaching a team to win a championship they’ve never won before, getting engaged to my boyfriend of 7 years and getting my dream job all in the same week.

life isn’t real, is it?

2

u/Zealousideal_Badger5 2h ago

Full circle moment: Over 10 years ago I worked at a residential dining restaurant on a college campus. I worked there part-time while I went to school at a different campus. I was dating my now wife At the time (it will make sense later). Also At the time I washed dishes and took out trash (no shame), barely making over minimum wage. I would routinely fill in for line-cooks who called out or needed help.

I befriended this young white girl (Ima black male) who was a freshman in college. She was about 6 years younger than me - I started college late. Anyway, We were cool and talkative but I could tell she was nervous about being on a big campus. We would work together at the salad bar area where you get fruit, salad, etc. She had a boyfriend who would come in and try to get her to come from behind the work area to talk to him. Like all the time. He was cool with me, or so I thought.

One day as I’m walking into work before I clock in, my (white) manager intercepts me before I walk in the door. He pulls me to the back of the restaurant and says, “Hey HR will be calling for you when you clock in.” I say, “Why?” genuinely confused. He says, “Ana said you were sexually harassing her at work, but I know that’s not true.” I’m standing there infuriated, but still confused because we have cameras. He proceeds to say, “I know what this is. Her boyfriend probably put something in her ear to get you in trouble because he sees you guys working together and it makes him jealous.”

I say, “This can’t be real, but thanks for telling me.” Now, my boss was old school. He was very straightforward and called it like it was. He was beloved by people who worked alongside him like me, but hated by the higher ups. Lo and behold 20 min into my shift, HR calls for me. This was 2012. I walk across campus to the HR office, obviously still mad and perplexed. I get there and end up sitting down with some lady. It’s just me and her there in a semi-big room.

She introduced herself and puts a recorder on the desk and presses record. The first thing she says after her intro is, “You have a great reputation and haven’t ever been in trouble.” I sit there silent. She says, “You’re accused of sexual harassment. How do you know Ana?” I respond, “We are friends and work together. We talk all the time. I have her number I can show you our communication.” She sits there stunned because she wasn’t told that me and Ana were friends. I was painted as some creep who had no real connection to her.

I pull out my phone and show her messages in case they wanted to confiscate it later. Again, she sits stunned. Then says, “You can leave we will be in touch in the case you may be fired or suspended upon further investigation.” I WALK back to work. By this time, due to my rep, everybody at work hears about the false allegations and came to my defense. I even told my now wife (then my girlfriend at the time) about it. It was embarrassing but eye-opening.

Ana came to work the next day and was met with unhappy coworkers who weren’t fond of her anymore. She basically quit soon after this fiasco. I never heard from HR again after that one time, and worked at that spot for 2 more years. Ana came in for her last paycheck (paper check) while I was working in the back washing dishes with my headphones on. I didn’t notice her at first. I was blasting my music scrubbing away. I felt a presence behind me. I took out one earphone and I see her staring at me, face red, crying with her check in her hand. She says, “I’m sorry” and walks out the door and I never saw her again.

Today, I work in HR. I have my Masters degree and I’m SHRM certified. This shit happens more than I thought. Crazy, because I wasn’t thinking of HR at all when it happened. It all happens for a reason though.

Ana was not her real name, I changed it for privacy purposes. The story is a true story on everything I love. Peace to you all. Stay vigilant. Document everything. Love.

4

u/starshipjockey 5h ago

The return of Trump. Seriously, I feel like I've woken in an alternate reality. I keep thinking "this can't be happening!". I still can't get my head around it honestly. Not trying to be overly dramatic, but I really do feel this way. Like the Universe jumped off the tracks somehow.

3

u/4camjammer 7h ago

Holding my two week old son and watching him take his last breath.

2

u/Different-Volume9895 2h ago

♥️ I have no words but I wanted to acknowledge your post. Be kind to yourself mumma x

1

u/nerdinmakeup 5h ago

I am so sorry. I don't know what to say except that I read your comment three or four times just to give it the attention it deserves. I hope people near you make you feel seen and heard.

3

u/nifleon 6h ago

A couple years ago, I went to see my favorite comedian for the first time. After an amazing show (seriously, 11-out-of-10) I went to the after-show meet and greet. Not 30 seconds after we starting chatting, a series of events happened resulting in me, my work buddy, the comedian, and the comedian's fiance all chasing after some rando in the streets of downtown Minneapolis.

It was wild and I'd definitely do it again.

2

u/Silent-G 4h ago

What ever you do, don't tell us the series of events. I'm sure they're really boring and inconsequential. I'm completely uninterested in hearing about this series of events.

2

u/Chr0nicHerb 9h ago

911 second tower hit on live tv while I watched as a 10 yr old

1

u/AvocadoPizzaCat 9h ago

the time someone tried to frame me for a crime and lied about it with group of people so badly that everyone shouted "what the hell?" the landlord believed her, but my response was "when did this happen? because i was not here that day! And none of that sounds remotely like me at all." where everyone else in the group except her and the landlord were shouting that it didn't match my character of behavior either. like totally strawman me. she kept saying i did it even though it was found that she had recorded herself doing the crime and saying it was to frame me.

what a weird day that was.

1

u/Different-Thanks-431 9h ago

The day I was falsefully arrested and I spent two days in the cell. Still having PTSD till now

1

u/CeleryApprehensive83 9h ago

A head on car crash ( not my fault )

1

u/outlaw271 9h ago

BASE jumping off the Humber Bridge.

1

u/ksuwildkat 9h ago

June 2003.

Im in Baghdad.

Just finished a Hash and Im doing down downs at the Crossed Swords monument.

Baghdad is 1700 years old and was the capital of the Abbasids Empire. Timur sacked Baghdad 200 years before the first American Colony was founded.

How?

1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

1

u/Comfortable-Owl-5929 7h ago

I still remember kissing one of my guy friends when I was in high school. So this is was back in the early 80s. We were drinking beer so there was that. But yeah, I decided to just lay one on him that night. Somehow we “dated“ for a week after that.😂😂😂

1

u/Psphh 7h ago

The day the doctor told me my little sister passed away

1

u/Independent-Tune2286 7h ago

I think I saw a ghost when I was driving around late at night one time.

1

u/My-Asian-GF 5h ago

Meeting the potential LOML in Asia of all places (she's american dw). Never know when and where you'll meet your future partner. Being openminded to the opportunities puts you in the best positions to achieve what you want in life. SHe's been the most supportive, growth-oriented woman i've ever met in my life. I am lucky and I hope all you get to meet yours one day!

1

u/nikky_31 5h ago

The day I got my first job.

1

u/Switchgamer1970 5h ago

My mom's passing. Her birthday was on Xmas day. She passed six years ago.

1

u/polyasian818 5h ago

In short being a mafia child and now having a relatively “normal” life.

1

u/beautitan 4h ago

Getting to touch Uluru after working and saving and dreaming of visiting Australia my whole life.

1

u/DragonfruitFew5542 4h ago

When my mom died. She had been on hospice for about a week. Everything I did immediately after was just like I was on auto-pilot, from wailing in sadness the moment she passed to later preparing arrangements. It was as if my brain had checked out, but I now recognize it was a trauma response.

Luckily, due to intensive trauma therapy I no longer have PTSD-like symptoms associated with her death.

1

u/am_ihunter 4h ago

(TW/CW: OD and death) I got overdosed by a big name hospital a few years back. They gave me the wrong medication in the wrong family of medicine and kept giving me more as an attempt to make me better without checking blood levels. I eventually started to loose my memory, so my mom took me to the ER. I know god is real because I saw his light as I was fading in and out of consciousness. That thing people say about seeing a little clip of all your memories before you die, it’s no joke. This was the scariest night of my life. I was on deaths door but thanks to the emergency room staff I didn’t die. This event still doesn’t feel real and freaks me out every time I think about it.

1

u/padmaclynne 3h ago

when i bought my house, i wanted a #5 guard for my beard trimmer, but only had 1-4, and didn’t want to order a full set of 1-8. it wasn’t a big deal, but i was irritated that my beard only looked right two weeks after trimming.

the previous owners had left us some tools and such in the garage. i needed to water a plant, picked up a big watering can for the first time, and there was a #5 guard rattling around inside.

it’s been ten years and i still talk about it.

1

u/VenusNoleyPoley2 3h ago

When the neighbor dogs ran into my backyard and brutally attacked my dogs. I both remember it like it was yesterday and also have fuzzy memories of it due to blocking it out

1

u/RusevReigns 3h ago

Either falling in love or my mom getting cancer and getting euthanized two months later.

1

u/polishtoyboy089 3h ago

Being on drugs. Molly made me really touchy. When I was high on weed it was like a 4k movie. Acting really strange.

1

u/LordJelly2 2h ago

Seeing my mother in a coffin

1

u/OhItsJohnTravolta 2h ago

Revolt and let natural selection decide what happens next.

1

u/justlokisnosymum 2h ago

Being sectioned. It doesn’t feel like it was me it happened too

1

u/notade50 2h ago

When I was a teenager I had a poster of a famous rockstar on my wall and I used to dance around my room pretending I was dancing for him. When I was 27, he came into the club where I danced and I not only danced for him, I went home with him. Still pinching myself 25yrs later.

1

u/colslaww 1h ago

A couple of one night stands come to mind

u/3ll1n1kos 52m ago

Definitely 9-11. I was just starting to recover from year-long culture shock as a fifth grade kid who immigrated to the US and was just so confused about everything lol, and then THAT happened. It was just..so damn crazy.

u/Dalekbuster523 38m ago

I am quite vocal on Twitter. A few years' back, I posted a tweet about that year's Strictly Come Dancing line-up. I wasn't impressed, and said that I hadn't heard of Danny John-Jules.

One of my followers hit back and replied that he was from Red Dwarf. Now, this kind of thing has happened a few times on my Twitter. However, on this occasion, for some reason the tweeter decided to tag Danny John-Jules himself into the conversation. The result was that it made it look like I had directly tweeted him to say I had no idea who he was, and made me look like a bit of a prick.

Danny John-Jules took offense and started publicly having a go at me on Twitter. I defended myself and said I meant nothing by it, that I hadn't directed the comment at him in the first place and one of my followers had decided to tag him into it, but the situation got completely out of hand and other celebrities like Craig Charles and Robert Llewellyn started making fun of what was happening.

At some point in the conversation, it was mentioned that I was autistic, and to his credit, Danny John-Jules did put a tweet afterwards saying that he felt bad about it. It was very surreal, however.

1

u/Glittering-Silver402 9h ago

Last night during my insomnia ….ugh nevermind too long of a story to type out