You see my son’s life was hit with tragedy yesterday. A car with four of his friends in it was involved in a wreck yesterday afternoon that left one of them dead and the other three injured. The other kicker is the one who caused it simply drove away!
I left my house yesterday afternoon in quite a hurry. You see I had an event for my Thrive business about an hour away. It was a benefit for St. Jude’s where high school kids gather and do a bit of a dance off using the B-boy skills and all style. I headed the way I would normally go and wow was the highway ever backed up. I do remember thinking for a minute that I really hoped it wasn’t a wreck where someone was hurt but more than that I was irritated that I was running late and did not have time for such a back up. I detoured away and headed on another route to my event.
I was really enjoying watching these kids do their thing. It was definitely a different experience. I took some videos and sent them to my son and even posted a couple on my Facebook. After being there a couple of hours I suddenly received a text from my son that made my heart sink. It said that four of his friends were in a bad car wreck. I then asked if they were okay and the next text really made my heart sink even further. He told me that one of the boys had passed away, another had a broken arm and leg and was not doing well at all, a third was referred to the trauma hospital and the last was doing okay. He said it was scary and the car flipped six times. I was sad and I called to talk to him and just felt so bad for him. The boy that was sent to the trauma center is a pretty good friend of my son’s. He goes a lot of places with him and he frequents our home and in fact had just been at our house the night before and my son just almost stayed the night with him.
I got back to my business after a while and watching these kids do their dance thing and as I looked around I couldn’t help but think about these boys that are friends of my son. They are all about the same age as these boys competing or judging this competition battle. Living their carefree life not knowing what could happen to them at any given moment. That poor boy will not live to dance again and laugh with his friends. I held myself together but those thoughts plagued my mind.
I drove off from the event about 9:00 that evening and headed out for my hour drive. I called my son to talk to him and see how he was and if he had heard anymore news. A little after speaking to him and probably driving for 15-20 minutes I stopped at one of my favorite grab and go places Raising Cane’s. As soon as the car was parked my thoughts caught up to me. A young man a few years older than my son was dead. Two of his friends a year, well not even a year, older than him were seriously injured and another thankfully was okay. It then caught up to me that my son just almost spent the night with one of these boys and could have just as likely been in the car just like he had before. I just sat and cried for a while. It was a lot to think about. I was sad for those parents and sad for my son and all of their other friends and sad for myself and other parents who face worrying about their kids growing up and driving and riding with others and knowing that we just cannot protect them all of the time.
I also thought a bit about how I had been in such a hurry and was irritated at that wreck I figured had all that traffic held up and how that was the very wreck that my son’s friends were involved in. The very wreck one of them died at. What is worse is that the person who pulled out in front of these boys drove away. Yes that is right they just left the scene of the accident. I know it must have been frightening to know you accidentally caused that but to not accept that responsibility and drive off is just wrong.
I send my thoughts and my prayers out to the family and friends of the boy who lost his life and to the boys involved in this tragedy. I know as for me when I got home last night I hugged my son a little tighter. In fact, I also hugged the three friends of his at my house when I arrived. None of use knows when something like this can happen. We have to let those we love know how we feel today, right now!
http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Four-teens-injured-in-Highway-82-roll-over-crash-308533641.html?device=phone&c=y
