Bar Harbor Special

Last year, we went to Maine, and while dining at a restaurant, I had a close encounter with death. We’d ordered the Bar Harbor special, a blueberry lemonade drink, filled to the brim with ice cubes. So there I went, crunching on the tasteless ice cubes until a whole ice cube slid into my windpipe! Completely unable to breathe, I pinched my sister’s arm so tightly, my sister said afterward she thought I’d seen a bear in the restaurant. Staggering up, my dad hustled over and began to pat me on the back as you’d do to a coughing baby. I was quite sure I would die in the next few seconds, clutching at my throat as if I were a lunatic with my dad still performing his idea of first aid on a choking victim. Then, this big burly man at the table beside us rushed over and he came behind me to do the Heimlich maneuver until I vomited the cursed ice cube out. It was quite violent, but the ice cube was out, thank god. My head dizzy with shock and my hands trembling from panic, I was too overwhelmed by the experience to properly thank my savior, which I really regret, but it got me thinking about the fragility of life, and what would’ve happened if no one had noticed I was choking. My parents bought his dinner for him, and we saw on the check that he’d already been on his third cocktail of the night! And he still knew spotted me choking and knew exactly what to do! He was a trained nurse, and he even said this was the 3rd time he saved someone from choking in restaurants. What were the chances- we drove all the way up to Maine, a place we’d never been to, I choked on an ice cube, and the man next to us happened to be a trained nurse! You know how they say a cat has nine lives- well here’s my spirit animal! I have not drunk a single iced drink without a straw since then.