Some days are harder than others. And some days become such a test of character and everything we thought we knew up until that point that they may as well have been the longest day of our lives.
"What was the 'longest' day of your life?" was today's burning question from Redditor TitanNova. The online community had stories, let me tell you.
Warning: Possibly sensitive material ahead.
"She had a bad headache..."
When I was little, like 5 or 6 years old, they thought my mom might die.
She had a bad headache so she was no fun playing with me. It got so bad she called up my grandma to come take care of me, and my dad took her to the hospital.
Hours and hours went by, and at some point I got worried so the time had already slowed down, my grandma was noticeably worried.
Then the phone rang, and it was my dad and I saw my grandma's face go white and she started crying. There was no hiding it. She said "They scanned your mom's brain and found something. They were going to do surgery to try to remove it."
I read between the lines, I sat with my nervous as hell grandma for hours waiting for that phone to ring hoping it'd be good news.
I don't know how long it was, but my parents walked in the door - my MOM walked in the door.
Turned out imaging was faulty, they thought they saw something terrible (I don't know if it was a tumour or blood clot or what) but they prepped her, etc. and I'm not sure how far they got before more imaging confirmed it was really nothing. Surprised the false alarm didn't give her a heart attack.
That's what I remember as the longest day of my life. Waiting is the hardest, especially at that age for that kind of terrible possible outcome.
"He made arrangements for an appointment..."
A little over a year ago I started having very strange neurological symptoms. After about a week, I finally went to the doctor. He ordered a CT scan of my head and found a mass behind my eye.
He made arrangements for an appointment at a major hospital for the next day.
The day waiting was by far the longest day of my life. I basically spent it watching the clock. I spent the night tossing and turning, I don't think I slept a wink.
"My dad died last year."
My dad died last year.
I got to the hospital at 8:30am and he had just been intubated because he'd crashed overnight.
An hour later I had to sign the form for withdrawal of care, just going with palliative care.
I spent until 3pm hearing the gasping rattle of his breathing getting slower and weaker.
I swear it felt like I was sitting there for a year. Still have nightmares about that room and that sound.
"I had just enlisted..."
9/11/2001
I had just enlisted a month prior but had not yet gone to basic training as I was still a senior in high school. I knew this would lead to a war I would take part in.
I also met this smoking hot chick and we made-out all afternoon because we were terrified and young. I pretty much fell instantly head over heals and despite the brutal casualties and horror, and knowing full well my life would be changing much faster than anticipated, she was all I could think about.
I've been married to her for a dozen years now.
"I was woken up around 2am..."
I was woken up around 2am by my dog vomiting blood all over me, she had eaten rat poison. I rushed her to the emergency vet and was told she had a 50% chance at surviving.
I had to leave the vet at 7am because I was in the process of getting my EMT certificate and had a 12 hour ride along scheduled to start at 8. Spent the day running my @ss off in the back of an ambulance while being sick with worry for my dog.
That was the longest day of my life, fortunately everything worked out in the end, my dog pulled through (she managed to eat rat poison another time about 2 years later and survived again) and I got my EMT certificate and am now working as a firefighter.
"I was in a car accident..."
GiphyI was in a car accident on January 26th 2018, the day before my birthday. I was stuck in my car for 45 minutes waiting for Emergency Services to help get me out, took a helicopter to a hospital for some emergency surgery... It was a pretty awful, long day.
"Yesterday."
Yesterday. Had to bury my friend while being seriously ill.
I've been sick all week. Could not sleep at all that night because I could not breathe at all. Went to the doctors for the third time to see if I could get something. They finally actually examine me (previously they just told me this type if flu goes around right now) and it turns out I have pneumonia.
Well, if that wasn't the kick in the teeth I needed cause in the afternoon I had to bury my friend. I will never forget watching her husband carry my friends urn while her 7 year old daughter walked behind him carrying her mothers crutches. It breaks my heart thinking of it. I just can't. She was my biggest inspiration in life and now she is gone.
Later in the evening I took my first dose of antibiotics which made me throw up. A lot. I haven't eaten since sunday.
So I am trying to mourn my friend while basically unable to breathe and throwing up for hours despite being completely empty.
So yeah.. That was a long day. This day has not been much better.
"First day of USMC boot camp."
First day of USMC boot camp. They deliberately induce sleep deprivation as the first step in breaking you down. After about 36 hours of being screamed at and shuffled around you are pretty much a zombie.
"The day I had to put my dog to sleep."
The day I had to put my dog to sleep. It's been 12 years and I still miss him and think about that day every day. Worst and longest day all in one.
"The evening I had a stroke."
The evening I had a stroke. I swore that evening was long as a day, since I was just laying around with a disabled arm and family around me. I took about 10 days to recover and luckily I celebrated my 27th birthday several weeks later.
"The day my grandson passed away..."
The day my grandson passed away from SIDS. It's been only 5 weeks, and it seems like it's been several months!
"March 8, 2012."
March 8, 2012. The day after my oldest child's leukemia diagnosis. when treatment was being planned, transfusions happened, etc. She turns ten this month, so it's all good now, but 2012 in general and that day in particular really sucked.
"...I quickly understood and lived that feeling."
The day my best friend and roommate of 3.5 years killed himself.
Before then, I didn't understand the "denial" stage of grief. But for the 7 hours between when I found out and when I went to bed, I quickly understood and lived that feeling
"I was working night shift..."
Oh lord it was my sister's wedding. I was working night shift at Wal-Mart stocking at the time and this was in the summer. My family is a bit on the poor side so I spent the entire previous day crafting decorations out of the various ribbons and whatervers they gave me instead of sleeping (I'm the only one in the family with an ounce of artistic talent/the only one reliable enough to get it done). I finish the decorations and go right to work where I picked up the slack of my coworkers who somehow never got fired.
Morning comes and I head right over to the park where the wedding was to be held. I didnt even get to go home to wash. It was a sink bath all the way for this filthy sweaty chick. Once again being the only capable one, I'm in charge of decorating. I also happened to be the maid of honor. In every photo I was in I had this thousand yard stare with glazed eyes. I honestly don't remember much of the wedding so I don't think I did anything too off. To throw salt on that wound I had to work that night as well. I'm getting tired just remembering that nightmare.
RedditorEzucraAaAa wanted to wax nostalgic about the good old days of technology and its humble beginnings.
"Redditors, what's something the internet was crazy about but is now forgotten?"
I miss the simplicity of not having a thousand apps. I'm simple.
Ah Memories...
the messengers aol GIFGiphy"Search engines before Google existed. Alta Vista, Lycos, Web Crawler..."
deenali
Bad Downloads
"Downloading custom cursors for your computer. I gave my family computer so many viruses back in the '00s trying to click things with a lightsaber."
TW1103
"Amazing. I had totally forgotten about all the virusy stuff I downloaded to my home computer, purely so the cursor would disappear and reappear. My parents had zero knowhow with computers either, so likely had no idea wtf I was downloading. Cursors were cool though, despite all the malware."
AdderWibble
Collections
"During the early days of the web, when most websites weren't plastered with advertising... Website view counters."
over_clox
"Back in the day of counters, one day I went to my website and the counter was in the thousands. I just thought it malfunctioned and ignored it. Years later I learned that my website, which had a MIDI collection, was published in a newspaper in another country. I couldn't say for sure if that was true and whether it aligned with the counter change."
pupeno
The Look
"Yea the internet was simpler too, layout style I mean. I like old style HTML webpage layouts. I personally don’t like hyper modern logos and designs on interfaces. Something about old slightly pixelated designs about them home screens and app logos really made them satisfying. I’ve even went as far as seeing if I could install some extensions that could change the layout of sites, make them feel older, give them that 2000’s html look."
Original_Ad_1103
Found It
Looking The Loud House GIF by NickelodeonGiphy"Stumbleupon.com"
idont*uckwithstupid
"I used to waste so much time with stumble upon."
lilbroccoli13
What a strange and crazy place the internet was.
notification
Baby Love GIF by LINE FRIENDSGiphy"Poking on Facebook."
lamspartacus
"I had a friend that poked me and I never noticed the notification. He died. I now have this unreturned poke as a reminder that I’ll never be able to poke them back."
Klaus0225
Playtime
"Flash games."
mc_mike810
"Many flash games are not dead. BEHOLD! The flashpoint project. They have saved thousands of the old flash games in a playable format. Go forth and relive your childhood Also paging u/The_Middler_is_Here"
Jayccob
I will find you...
"There was a rhythm game that I don't remember the name of that me and some friends would challenge each other in, and it had the song Guitar vs Piano 2 which introduced me to Envy, who was a pretty big newgrounds artist at the time. I wanna go check out their stuff again now, I'd completely forgot about them till now."
Silvervirage
GroupMeet
"Forums. There used to be so many, incredibly active and dedicated forums."
FromJavatoCeylon
"A lot of the forums I visited were ruined by photobucket when they decided they wanted paid a lot of money from their users. So many build threads and tutorials ruined."
jus_like_at
"IMDb had the best message boards back in the day. Chatting with your internet friends around the globe about every nuance in your fave movie. Man I miss that. Reddit is close, but nothing beats the olden days."
FeFiFoMums
Fun
Egg Hatch GIF by The Roku ChannelGiphy"Do you guys remember those egg things that hatched little creatures after a while? You'd put one on your website and then the artist would update the source url with images of it hatching? There were all kinds of little fun things like that."
Sapiencia6
Those were the days!
Do you have something you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor BarooTangClan wanted to compare notes on all the entertainment we've said "that's enough" to.
"What will make you instantly stop watching a movie or show and why?"
I hate bad acting, writing, storytelling... I hate bad anything.
Stop Jumping
Fight Scene GIF by Operation FortuneGiphy"Fight scenes with a million visual cuts. Gives me motion sickness. Contrast the absolutely masterful work in John Wick. long cuts, realistic use of weapons (mostly), 100% skill."
StabbyPants
Louder
"When the actors whisper the whole movie and you have to crank the volume to hear what's being said - but the soundtrack or some other misc noise starts blaring at a higher volume directly after."
Blaze*itch
"I basically had to watch Stranger Things up in my attic with the windows and doors closed. I was worried the neighbors would think something was wrong or be annoyed if I watched it downstairs in my single family home. It was ridiculous."
ForecastForFourCats
"spice things up"
"Love triangles out of no where in a second or third season to 'spice things up' because studio writers are hacks and their idea of relationship drama is 'potential infidelity' at all times. It's the most tired trope on the go**amn planet and the second I see it rear its head I dip right the hell out."
amalgamas
"The whole concept of a love triangle to begin with an incredibly juvenile. Any healthy functioning adult who found themselves in a love triangle would soon choose to find themselves single."
Ouch_i_fell_down
Save your lips...
"When couples in a movie/show have a fight and one of them instantly goes to a friend and end up kissing her/him after talking for 5 minutes. I cringe so hard i turn it off and never watch it again."
Dry-Mycologist3966
"This pissed me off so much in Manifest. Girl is desperate to get back her ex-fiancé, he finally breaks up with his wife to get back with her and she's like 'nah, it's not fair to your wife, let me do this other dude I just met through a calling and be pissed at you for being jealous.' Michaela was the worst and everyone acted as if she were a saint the entire time."
gingerisla
Talk to Me
In Love Flirt GIF by OriginalsGiphy"Shows where a single polite conversation could fix everything."
Horror_Librarian_133
We are going overboard with the witty repartee. Talk normal...
Shut Up
Scared Home Alone GIF by FreeformGiphy"Annoying main character, especially if it's a kid."
abananation
"Kids who have a quippy, sassy retort to everything, and everyone just kind of crumbles before their wit."
CarpetPure7924
Speak Good
"Shows where kids in high school talk like they are 30 years olds who have done everything, been everywhere, know it all and use a ridiculously flowery and extensive vocabulary in every conversation. Like, have any of these writers ever been to high school? Literally no one talks like that. Even worse is when, in addition to this, all the adults talk normal or are just plain stupid, like so weird parallel universe."
StretchArmstrong74
Nonsense
"If the movie is too dark. Not graphic, just literally dark. I lose all sense of intensity in dark scenes and I'm not straining my damn eyes trying to figure out what the hell is going on."
TheShadowOfKaos
"I've seen about 10 percent of all DC movies recently. I've seen all of the individual films in full, just actually saw 10% of each of them."
Mortlach78
"Movies in the late 80s had a lot of dark but you could see the depth because of different shooting techniques. Now you cant see crap because its a CGI fest drowned in black color so you can't see crap because you have no depth in a scene. Compare night scenes in dark alleys in 80's movies and movies now. Utter crap show in the new ones."
Bombzey
Pay Attention Storytellers
"Bad editing would be a big one. A lot of modern horror movies can't help but edit the movies like they're trailers, with added noises to scare the audience because they are afraid the script alone isn't enough to keep people watching."
ThisIsCreation
"I remember this is where the first transformers movie lost me. When the transformers are fighting at the end, it's all a big, jumbled mess of metal and I can barely tell what's going on or who is who."
1840_NO
Drama
will devry soap opera GIF by General HospitalGiphy"When they go straight to relationship drama right away when it wasn't the selling point of the show."
LightInthewater
Do better, Hollywood. It's not that hard.
RedditorCallMehRiverwanted to hear about all the ways none of us what to leave this life.
"What Do You Think Would Be The Worst Death Imaginable?"
My list of the worst deaths is long. My imagination runs amok.
Trapped
season 6 friends GIFGiphy"For me? Being trapped in a small tube or cave (like the ones you have to wiggle through) and getting stuck to where you can’t move your arms. And all you can do is wait to die. I’m getting chills just thinking about it."
Stuck
"The more I hear about cavers that get stuck, the more I think that's a crap way to go."
- braydenmaine
"There’s a great YouTube channel called Ask a Mortician and this was her #1 worse way to die. I can’t remember the exact details or their names, but two well-known divers went into an underwater cave."
"One of them became entangled and died. Years later, his friend dives back down there to try and retrieve his body, the body itself is rotten and his head comes off and the other guy also becomes tangled and dies. Really sad."
- melancholybuzzard
A Long Process
"Believed to be in a coma but coherent through the whole 20 year process until they pull the plug."
weebeardedman
"Oh man this just reminded me of a story I read on here about a guy who lost the ability to move and speak but was completely conscious. Had to just lay there and be awake but trapped in a useless body. His family thought he was brain dead or something and he couldn’t communicate to them that he was 'all there.' Crazy"
habeeb51
Slow & Steady
"Being slowly impaled by a growing bamboo. It was a form of torture probably used by the japanese during WW2 against Allied prisoners."
JazzySocrate
"My uncle who served back in the day said that people would have the bamboo slipped under their fingernails because it would continue to grow still. It would just continue growing into the body."
Payness0826
Excruciating
"Rabies."
Santolmo
"The scariest part is that once you have symptoms, you 100% will die. A 100% mortality rate has to be a psychological torture in itself."
RonaldRawdog
"Not only that, you feel irrational fear. Your brain is literally being eaten apart by the virus and it fu*ks up everything on it. You can't drink water because it hurts you. You feel dizzy, present a fever, excessively salivate, everything hurts and it only gets worse. I'd rather take a bullet and die when the symptoms are still tolerable."
Santolmo
Why can't we all just go engulfed in calm and quiet?
Suspended
"Some pulpy sci-fi book I read a while back had one of the best deaths of this real piece of crap bad guy. Left to die in a drowning sea lab under the Antarctic ice, he freezes himself in a state of the art suspended animation pod with some kind cold fusion power source that would keep it running for millions of years."
"But he forgot to inject himself with the drug that would put him to sleep. So basically he is in suspended animation at the bottom of the Antarctic ocean while his mind is perfectly awake and conscious in a near unbreakable machine that won't run out of power for millions of years and nobody knows about it."
DubiousAlibi
No Cure
"As an RN I have always thought that the worst way to die (natural process) is ALS. Lou Gehrig's Disease."
randymn1963
"My mom and grandmother have Huntington's disease, which is essentially ALS, Alzheimer's, and Dementia combined into one really messed up genetic disease. I have a 50% chance of inheriting it and if I hit 40 and there's still no cure I can't promise I'll feel like continuing on with my life because that disease is absolutely freaking miserable."
DevTheDummy
Agony...
"Radiation poisoning."
binhan123ad
"The fact your chromosomes can be so destroyed your body basically lost it's genetic code and with it the ability to make any new cells. It's literally a 'dead man walking' and you slowly rot away in agony. Stuff is so unimaginably f**ked up."
yea_nah448
"What's also bad about radiation is that it affects your nerves and brain cells last, so you have everything in place to feel all the pain of the rest of your cells being destroyed."
nosmelc
Goo
Not Listening Season 2 GIF by The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirGiphy"I want to believe anything that slowly kills you painfully to be the worst. Such as slowly being crushed or something where the pain is beyond compare and yet not enough to throw you into shock or unconsciousness."
Beardless_Man
"Alternatively, being rapidly crushed into goo would probably be the least painful. I'm talking one of those massive industrial hammers they use for large steel work. Basically smooshed before the nerve signals make it to the brain."
Bannon9k
Now I'll never sleep again without nightmares of death.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
