You are right,Ann. I'll tell them.
My daughter Kayla died at age 7 in July 1994. Her best friend was Katie Cole who was 6 at the time. Since we were friends with Katie's family, it was easy for me to look past my grief and start to think about the dreams that died for me when Kayla passed. Soon I was thinking how someday I'd see Katie graduate, get married, have children, etc. What a beautiful way to see things - living vicariously through her best friend!
I had wanted to wait til Katie was 16 to give her a small diamond necklace that I had planned to give to Kayla when she turned 16. I didn't wait, I gave it to her over a year ago when she was barely 14. She wore it constantly as a reminder of her best friend who died.
Sunday afternoon, Katie and her best friend (the 16 year old daughter of another friend) were in a car that was "flying down the highway", the driver ran off the road, overcorrected, went down a ravine and hit two trees killing both the girls immediately.
Katie would have been 16 on March 6.
This is probably the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with since Kayla's death and I am trying very hard to keep up a good front since it may help me get through this tragedy. We lost another young man a few weeks ago (Jarred Black, a soldier from Peru who was killed in Iraq) - we knew his family and he went to school with my oldest son.
I thought that drinking could numb the pain, but all it did was make me have a really, really bad headache the next morning - the pain was still there and is still here now as I write. I also tried to eat my way through the kitchen, but that didn't help either. Obviously, God remains the only source of comfort and strength for me at this time.
I ask only for prayers for the families of the two girls - especially the driver's family who not only have grief but guilt to deal with.
Rae