Pennie Hunt, the Happiness Lady

In 2018, Pennie experienced another major setback when she was struck from behind while stuck in traffic by a car moving at upwards of 65-75 miles per hour. This crash could have easily killed Pennie but she somehow never lost consciousness and remembers every moment from the crash.

This spring, I was home in Connecticut, unable to ride my bike and working to raise awareness for distracted driving while I was off the road. I reached out to a number of people affected by an avoidable crash on the road to hear their experience and share them with the #EyesUpRide community. I found Pennie Hunt on the National Safety Council’s Distracted Driving Survivor’s Network and arranged a conversation. We spoke in late April about her experience.

Pennie was born in South Dakota and has two older siblings. Her family moved to several different states while growing up including Oklahoma, California, South Dakota because her dad was in the Air Force. Pennie said the constant moving was hard because of all the changes but is now grateful for what it taught her: “Looking back on it now I realize that it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me because I learned how to make friends and talk to people.” 

Pennie eventually landed in Wyoming where she planted roots and went back to school and earned a degree in communications. She became quite successful in her career recruiting for the healthcare industry. Things took a turn when she lost her father and two years later lost one of her sons to an overdose. This much loss in such a short window caused Pennie to rethink her path. She realized that when she was speaking with clients and partners she found that she spent a good bit of time helping them with life struggles “that was when [she] really felt alive.”

With this realization, Pennie quit her high-profile job and started speaking and writing. It started with a blog - she became known as the “happiness lady.” She was spreading lessons and tools she used to get through her own difficult periods of loss and hardship with others. She called her message “love your life no matter what,” which she then turned into a book with that title.

Pennie had created this new journey for herself where she was in a healthy spot mentally and emotionally and moving forward despite her loss. In 2018, Pennie experienced another major setback when she was struck from behind while stuck in traffic by a car moving at upwards of 65-75 miles per hour. This crash could have easily killed Pennie but she somehow never lost consciousness and remembers every moment from the crash. She knew immediately that the driver was distracted. “There were no skid marks on the road, [the driver] never even put on her brakes” and didn’t see the traffic in front of her. 

Pennie was lucky enough to be unharmed externally after this crash that threw her car 35 yards forward and landed upside down. She survived and walked away because many things went right. Pennie had stopped in traffic with the front of her car slightly to the left of the car in front of her, so the impact of the crash sent her car away from the other stopped cars rather than directly into the car in front. She also was wearing her seatbelt. Pennie says the moment the crash happened “felt like someone was holding [her] in a hammock.”

Pennie didn’t walk away completely unharmed, though. Pennie left that day with a concussion, soft tissue, and internal injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress that continues to affect her. The young driver that hit Pennie left the crash uninjured and with only minor citations for the crash including reckless driving and distracted driving. According to police on the scene, the driver admitted almost immediately that she didn’t see the car and was distracted. 

Prior to her crash, Pennie had been speaking about living life to the fullest for years and had a well-established career path. Because of the brief distraction that caused the crash, Pennie lost a year of her life as she dealt with physical therapy, post-traumatic stress, and other therapies needed to get her feet back under her. Many people at the crash seen and soon after the crash would say things like “you shouldn’t be alive” and Pennie would regularly have nightmares about the crash involving people trying to kill her and saying “you should be dead.” This added to the challenge of returning to normal life. 

Eventually, Pennie was able to resume her life’s work: spreading the message of living your life and being present. One of Pennie’s favorite concepts is “be here now.” She wants us all to “spend [our] time enjoying where [we] are at right now. You never know if you're going to be here tomorrow.” After this completely avoidable crash, Pennie focused on putting her energy into “saying how grateful [she was] to be alive” rather than focusing on anger at a situation that didn’t need to happen. 

Pennie endured dramatic post-traumatic stress from both the loss of her 22 year old son to opioid overdose and the crash, and yet she remains relentlessly kind. Her heart and desire to help others be happy is infectious and radiated through the phone. Though she makes the challenges she has overcome seem easy, Pennie explained just how hard it is. “The triggers that bring on PTSD in a second was something I never understood, and it’s hard for my family and friends to understand. Unless you experience it, you don’t understand what post-traumatic stress is like.” She has received Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which has helped with her post-traumatic stress: “it’s getting better, it’s what got me back in a car.”

When reflecting on distractions in the car, Pennie said “you don't need to talk on the phone to anybody that bad to risk your life or somebody else’s life.” When asked how we can solve the massive problem of distracted driving, Pennie had a few words to share: “If we could somehow get people to understand that it just takes a second…it happens so quickly.” Even the briefest of distractions while driving can forever change or end a life. (Read her accident story here.)

I have noticed a common thread of resilience and desire to continue living a happy life from speaking to several victims and survivors of distracted driving. These people have endured some of the hardest challenges life can throw at us, yet they stand tall with determination to prevent others from going through all that they have. Hearing these stories has left me feeling both inspired and encouraged. I first heard “be here now” while at training to lead for Overland Summers and is a key part of the Eyes Up mission. If we all took those words to heart, distractions both on and off the road would drop substantially.

Everyday, Pennie Hunt continues her work to spread happiness and love of life through writing, speaking, and presentations around the country. To learn more about Pennie’s work and mission, check out her website here. A huge thank you to Pennie for her time and sharing her story so we may all live a more present life. Thank you for reading! 

I am raising money to fight distracted driving. To help me reach my fundraising goal of $50,000 for TextLess Live More by the end of 2022, visit this link. Thank you for your support!

-Ben Grannis

#EyesUpRide