2 close 2 home

A four-year old girl died just a few blocks from our house yesterday morning.

Her mother was driving to the neighborhood elementary school less than a mile from here, when the minivan they were riding in was struck by a pickup truck. The little girl's sisters, aged eight, five & one, were also in the vehicle. On impact, the four year old was ejected from the minivan and landed in a ditch beside the road. Tonight’s news relayed that the four-year old was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph’s Hospital, while her five-year old sister is still in critical condition. The Mother and the other two girls in the minivan survived the crash with minor injuries.

Yesterday morning was a normal morning for Megan and me, and we stuck to our routine after driving Samantha to meet her school bus. We were watching Sesame Street when the drone of news helicopters overhead gave me the first clue that something was amiss. I learned from the local news website that there had been an accident involving children in our usually quiet neighborhood.

My first selfish thought was about the detour I would now have to take to get Megan to preschool. After all, I had a phone interview and needed to get home quickly after dropping Megan off. I was relieved to see that I wouldn’t need to detour; although the road was closed in one area, it was open just where I needed it to be. It wasn’t until we were on our way to Megan’s preschool that I felt the first uneasy stirrings. As I looked down the road where the accident had happened, I could see that it was swarming with cops and emergency vehicles. Clearly that this was a very serious accident. But I needed to focus! Although I was feeling unsettled, I knew I had to get it together for the interview.

This morning that I found out that the little girl had died in that accident. 4 years old. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to lose a child so young. While I was celebrating my new job and re-entrance into the working world, a little girl’s mother was grieving over the loss of one child and clinging to hope that another young daughter would survive her injuries. How does one live through such a loss? Can a marriage and family survive such immense pain?

I suppose this has impacted me so deeply because it was so close to home. Close to home in that tonight as my own girls and I were drove home from the grocery store, we passed the roadside memorials that are so popular Arizona – candles, teddy bears, and balloons at the site of the accident. Closer to home in that it could easily have been me pulling in front of that pickup truck yesterday morning, with Samantha and Megan in my own car. That alone is both a scary and sobering thought. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

My prayers are with this family.