DENVER -- Imagine driving down Interstate 25 and being forced to the left by a tractor-trailer that moves into your lane. Imagine being in a small car with nowhere to go as you are sandwiched between the semitruck and the concrete barrier.

A Denver motorist didn't have to imagine it because it happened to her Tuesday afternoon.

Joanne James was driving her Volkswagen Bug along I-25 when her car was crushed by a big rig near 38th Avenue. She said she saw the crash coming -- she could see the truck veering toward her -- but she had nowhere to go.

"I thought, 'Oh, he's coming towards me.' And then he was on me. And then, I was just along for the ride," said James.

She said the entire thing lasted less than 30 seconds but that it all seemed to happen in slow motion. She was wearing a seat belt, but her airbags did not deploy. Incredibly, James survived.

She said the first thought she had when she was smashed up against a guardrail, with a semitrailer beside her, was how beautiful the blue sky looked through her cracked windshield.

"I'm thinking, that is so pretty. Hee hee. It was a very detached feeling I had," James said.

She said she had a remote observer's point of view until she saw her precious VW Beetle mangled, and that's when she realized how lucky she was.

"I'm stiff and sore. I'm just amazed. I have a couple of bruises and a couple scratches and that's it," she said.

Her car, however, was a total loss.

"Well, it was pretty upsetting because it was my baby!" she said laughing, remembering fondly her 2003 lavender Beetle.

James, an oncology massage therapist, told 7NEWS that she believes there's a purpose to everything. She was just returning from performing another massage for cancer patients when the crash occurred.

"My first thought though, of course, is that I'm lucky to be alive," she said. "I guess it's just, it was not my time. I've got a good reason to be back here and among the living."

A doctor appeared right after the crash, asking her to turn her engine off. Then, a paramedic who saw the wreck kept her calm. Her boyfriend, who saw it on the news, said she must have had many guardian angels looking out for her.

"I was going, 'Oh, my God. I can't believe she lived through that,'" said Dennis Christensen. "If there are guardian angels out there, it's because she's such a good person and does such good things in the world. And they were looking out for her because of that."

Police are investigating the circumstances of the accident and said it jammed I-25 traffic approaching 20th Street for hours.

James' right shoulder, left lower back and neck are sore. A couple of bruises on her legs and a tiny scratch on her hand are the only visible signs that she was nearly killed. She had to cancel her massage appointments both on Tuesday and Wednesday but plans to go back to work soon.