A Tragic Event
A phone call can change your life. Yesterday I got two.
The first one came in the afternoon, a cause for celebration because I had sold a manuscript I'd worked on for a very long time.
The second phone call came at 1:00 in the morning. It was the grandmother of my two step-daughters, letting me know that their pregnant mother and two-year-old baby sister had just been killed in a head-on collision. Their mother was killed instantly, but the toddler survived for one hour. My husband got out of bed and came hurrying down the hall when he heard the sound of my voice. He knew something terrible had happened. When I told him his former wife and her daughter had been killed, he fell to his knees and sobbed. The two of us spent the rest of the night awake, surviving bouts of crying and holding each other. My husband knew that when morning came, he'd have to tell his daughters their mother, baby sister, and unborn brother had all died. How does a father do this? How does he break their hearts? How do parents guide their children safely down a path of horror and anguish?
And then I was struck with the notion that I had now become the only mother these girls would have on this earth. The reality of that hit me hard. Surely I would fall short of their expectations and needs. Would they see me every day and be reminded that their real mother wasn't here? How could I come through for them in this devastating time?
Here is the news link to this terrible event.
There is sorrow in our home today. But there is love, and there is hope.
The first one came in the afternoon, a cause for celebration because I had sold a manuscript I'd worked on for a very long time.
The second phone call came at 1:00 in the morning. It was the grandmother of my two step-daughters, letting me know that their pregnant mother and two-year-old baby sister had just been killed in a head-on collision. Their mother was killed instantly, but the toddler survived for one hour. My husband got out of bed and came hurrying down the hall when he heard the sound of my voice. He knew something terrible had happened. When I told him his former wife and her daughter had been killed, he fell to his knees and sobbed. The two of us spent the rest of the night awake, surviving bouts of crying and holding each other. My husband knew that when morning came, he'd have to tell his daughters their mother, baby sister, and unborn brother had all died. How does a father do this? How does he break their hearts? How do parents guide their children safely down a path of horror and anguish?
And then I was struck with the notion that I had now become the only mother these girls would have on this earth. The reality of that hit me hard. Surely I would fall short of their expectations and needs. Would they see me every day and be reminded that their real mother wasn't here? How could I come through for them in this devastating time?
Here is the news link to this terrible event.
There is sorrow in our home today. But there is love, and there is hope.
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