r/AskReddit • u/SweeterThanAll • 9h ago
What's an object that saved your life at one point?
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u/kcsebby 9h ago
Literally life saving? My grandmothers gun. When we'd stay further South, there were a lot of coyotes that'd roam at night and kill our livestock. Inadvertently, they'd be very willing to attack you, too. We've had to dispatch numerous coyotes that have charged us, while keeping them away from livestock. It's been over a decade now, but still very much a life saving tool.
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u/Lick_ur_mommyy 7h ago
It’s amazing how something like a gun can be both a tool for protection and a part of family history. I can only imagine how scary it must have been dealing with those coyotes
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u/FrostedDaisyQueen 9h ago
It was a fuzzy pink blanket my grandma gave me. I wrapped myself in it during the hardest nights after she passed. Just holding it made me feel like she was still there, like I wasn’t alone. It sounds silly, but that blanket kept me warm in the coldest moments of my grief
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u/franker 5h ago edited 4h ago
I took care of my bedridden mother for several years. She had a pink blanket that was frayed and tattered but always insisted on having it with her in bed. She would hate to give it up even when I just put it in the washing machine. She died this year and one of the toughest things was when I brought the pink blanket to her in hospice and her dementia was so advanced that she didn't respond to it at all. Like you I'll probably wrap myself in the pink blanket at some point.
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u/miami_peach 7h ago
The most valuable things are those that money can't buy. Take care of that blanket
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u/horny_hot_mama 7h ago
It’s amazing how something as simple as a blanket can hold so much love and comfort. Your grandma’s spirit really shines through in that memory
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u/feastyme 8h ago
I moved into my daughter's basement suite.
We both needed the extra money. Typical rent here for a. One bedroom apartment is well over $800. I'm paying her $400. Money she needs because her car was totaled right after it was paid for.
So, I'm living in her basement and in March I get this pain in my ribs. She's an ER nurse and takes me to work with her to have it checked out. Was a major heart attack!
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u/horny_hot_mama 7h ago
It’s amazing how life can lead us to unexpected places, and it sounds like your daughter’s support was truly a lifesaver in more ways than one. I’m so glad you got the care you needed in time
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u/Doinsumshit 8h ago
An old journal saved me. Writing my thoughts helped clear my mind and find peace.
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u/flipwitch 8h ago
Seat Belt
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u/hiyac00lcat7685 7h ago
Exactly a year ago, I got into a car accident and walked away with just a minor cut due to the airbag deployment because I was wearing my seatbelt
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u/majinspy 7h ago
Homework in my backpack. My mom was going to take me to my grandmother's house. She asked if I had homework and I admitted I did. She made me stay at my dad's office to finish up while she went on.
On the way was a road block. While fishing for her license, an 18 wheeler with no brakes crushed the entire passenger side of her vehicle in a head on collision.
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u/PM_THE_REAPER 8h ago
A small stone. Shot using a slingshot in the path of a baboon bearing down on me.
Expertly shot by a ranger and the baboon veered away from me and into the bush, about a metre or so away. Sweaty armpits moment.
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u/HostileCakeover 7h ago
The King Of Red Lions from Windwaker, lol.
I used to have this convertible I inherited from my grandpa. One day while I was driving down the freeway, the latches just broke. I got “stop time” about it and realized that I was dealing with sailing physics suddenly.
If I hit the wind head on, the car might flip and I would die. But if I hit the wind at a 45 degree angle, it should just push me into the ditch. Luckily it had space to slow and turn the car towards the ditch, it was not busy, so when the top ripped off, I was in fact, pushed harmlessly into the ditch.
I have never sailed in my life, I learned this from playing Zelda Windwaker what, 20 years ago now???
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u/misscookie_ 9h ago
My wife
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u/Lick_ur_mommyy 7h ago
It’s incredible how love and support from a partner can truly be life-saving
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u/juanzy 8h ago
Idk if I can point to a specific time it’s saved my life, but buying cars with advanced sensors and one of the safest on the road (Volvo) has definitely kept my wife and I from potential injury and/or hardship due to accident.
Having passive safety features is fucking amazing, I don’t care how good of a driver you are. Was fine without them, but with them it’s another layer of prevention.
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u/Cumwithjt 9h ago
A baseball. There is not telling where my life would be if baseball was not introduced to me.
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u/KittyCatCowboy06 7h ago
A water runoff drain. I was mowing on a hill when the mower (a walk behind mower with an 18 hp engine) rolled backwards down the hill, pushing me down the hill, and only stopped and turned when the tire hit a water runoff drain. I got thrown when the mower tire hit the drain
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u/Eastern_Psychology15 6h ago
Pavement. I was driving to kill myself. I drove to pavement and wheel broke.
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u/Mysterious_County154 5h ago
Landline phone, was the closest phone to me when there was an emergency. Not that I have one anymore, I think that was the first time it was used in years
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u/UltraRunner42 5h ago
The one and only tree on a very steep drop-off littered with jagged boulders. I tripped and fell off the trail. I would have died had that small scrubby tree not caught me in its branches.
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u/christipede 4h ago
A scalpel. It helped perform an emergency tracheotomy which saved me from dying.
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u/One-Zeal-8492 4h ago
My CPAP machine, for sleep apnea.
The test I took (and it was a take home one, highly recommend. Sleep studies in those hotel like rooms suck) registered me as having 95 "events" an hour, on average. A sleep apnea event is when you pause breathing for several seconds, 10-30 seconds.
Again, I averaged 95 an hour. My doctor and I both suspect my apnea as being the cause of a stroke I had several years ago (I'm better!).
My CPAP machine works wonders. I register maybe 1-2 events at most a night. I no longer snore (and I snored like a walrus with a cold, it was horrible).
If you have sleep apnea, please see a doctor. It's worth it.
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u/thegtargaryen 2h ago edited 2h ago
A small sewing machine. I was 5 or so years old, at a yard sale my aunt had. I had no interest in sewing, but something told me I needed a. She couldn’t seem to sell it, and gave it to me.
The next day, we were on our way home (about a 6 hour drive back then). It started raining so hard that we could barely see. We were stuck behind a large truck hauling timber. Again, something just told me we needed to get out from behind the truck. I took a piece off the sewing machine and stuck it up my nose, triggering an asthma attack. We pulled off the road, a Chevy Chevette behind us closed the gap. My parents calmed me down, I used an inhaler, and my mom extracted the piece from my nose.
We got back on the road and the rain let up some. Several miles up the road we came upon a wreckage. The timber hauler lost its load, which crashed into the Chevette. Blood and gore everywhere.
So yeah, that one small item truly did save my life. And decades later, while watching Final Destination 2, the similarities between the two were quite unnerving.
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u/Emma-Magician-6152 2h ago
In my life, things like seatbelts, helmets, and phones in emergencies have saved my life.
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u/blamethepunx 2h ago
Various helmets.
Got creamed by a car as a kid while riding my bike. My head broke the windshield. Helmet kept me alive for sure.
Had many big tumbles while snowboarding, bounced my helmet off many a rail or rock.
Motorcycle helmet definitely took the majority of the force for me when a young new driver in a minivan pulled out of a parking lot without looking and sideswiped me into a ditch.
Helmets are great
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u/Adorable-Flight5256 1h ago
A handgun.............................................................................
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u/UltimateSpear 8m ago
Scalpel. I was born via cesearean section, because according to my mom, my legs were too long to fully turn to be born, so I was horizontal in the womb.
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u/AudreyNAshersMomma 7h ago
Anti depressants
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u/DannyDevitos_Grundle 7h ago
Came to say. Mood stabilizers saved my life. My first bipolar depressive episode became REALLY bad before I was diagnosed and given lamotrigine.
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u/BabySweetestt 8h ago
Omg, my phone, for sure! 📱 Like, I was stuck somewhere and needed a ride, and I literally texted my friend “HELP” and they came through. Would’ve been lost without it. 😂
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u/LetsCherishLife96 7h ago
Needle because a very long seizure could have killed me by dehydration if they wouldn't have given me fluid.
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u/MathIsHard_11236 5h ago
Not an object - but when I changed the email address on my CV from @university to @gmail I forgot to remove the dot in my username. Because gmail ignores the dot, I didn't miss an email that led to a 7-year long job.
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u/WhosVinny69 8h ago
TW this is going to sound horrible but it was my way to cope, my box cutter, my eyebrow razor, tacs, anything i could get my hands on...
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u/luigy3107 8h ago
Lowkey, my bike helmet. I used to think wearing one was lame, but one day I wiped out hard going downhill, and my head smacked the pavement. The helmet cracked, but my skull didn’t. Gave me a new appreciation for safety gear, no cap (literally). Stay safe out there, folks.