Ok, bear with me, as this is not a cheery entry. I saw a sign in a yard in my brother's hometown with the statement listed in my title. How true this statement is and our family learned this reality this past weekend. Friday night, I received a call from my dad and from the tone of his voice, I knew something was wrong. I thought it was perhaps the phone call we have been waiting for regarding my aunt. She has a brain tumor and has not been well for sometime. But this was not the case. Dad told me that my 15 year old nephew had been lifeflighted to Lincoln as he was in a bad car wreck...what???? My head was spinning and I screamed out. Phil came running in from outside. I remember asking what happened but Dad didn't know any details. They were heading north. I asked if I should go but my mom said to wait until we heard more. Sobbing. I remember sobbing. This was my first nephew who I would watch on weekends. A great kid who never gets into trouble. What is going on? Why don't they call? I then received another call from my dad who told me that Richland had been in a bad car wreck and that his friend that was with him had passed away. I shrieked. Dad told me what hospital Richland was in and could I call family. I did. I talked with my aunt who told me that I should go on up...don't listen to anyone else. If I wanted to be there, I should go. I did. Suitcases were packed and we headed north. On the way, my dad called to let me know my nephew had been in critical condition but was now stable. He had burns as the pickup had caught on fire. OMG! This cannot be happening. We arrived and hugged my brother and his wife. They are a mess. There were only pieces of the story at this time. My parents meet me and fill me in on what they know. Richland at one point had broke down and said he killed his best friend and that he wished he had died. Oh no. Please don't feel that way. People were everywhere. Kids in football jerseys were there. Teachers. Friends of my brother's family. The support was overwhelming. Even the brother of the young man who died in the crash was there to let my nephew know that he is not to blame (my nephew was driving). Amazing. I went into the ICU to see Richland. There were blisters covering the back of his head, some on his face, hands, and feet. He was in a deep sleep due to the meds. His hair was singed in the back. We only stayed for a few minutes, then went back into the waiting room. I met people whose names I can't remember but all telling me what a good kid my nephew is. The time passed slowly and I ended staying in the waiting room all night with my parents, brother, his wife, and my sister. We slept little. By the next day, Richland was in and out due to the pain medication. He did get a shower and looked somewhat better. He talked very little. He slept a lot. By Saturday evening, the nurses got him up and he walked to the waiting room. He sat there a short while but his head and neck hurt so bad, he had to go back. I sat with him for a short while. Just Richland and me. We talked very little. I teased him about his new hairdo. I finally went to my brothers house to soak in a hot tub and then slept some. I washed towels and dishes to keep busy. My other nephew hung with us as he is best buddies with my son Collin. That helped him and my brother as he was worried about leaving Alex out. By Sunday, my nephew had improved so much that he was released. No broken bones, no stitches anywhere. He was so blessed. We found out that the pickup collided with another pickup in an intersection on a gravel road. There were no stop signs and the corn was so high, vision was impaired. We are not sure if there was any fault. My nephew could get into trouble with his license as he was only supposed to be driving to/from school events. He and his buddy were just tooling around waiting to take football pics. He wasn't driving fast and there were no drugs/alcohol involved. Thank God. The man from the other truck pulled my nephew out and they tried to pull out the other kid but couldn't due to the seat belt and the fire. If the truck had landed on its other side, my nephew would not be here.
The thoughts that continually run through my head are:
How will Richland live with this the rest of his life?
Will there be legal actions against him? if so, how will he cope?
How will other treat him, my bro/sis-in-law and his brother?
WHY? Especially when there are other kids whose parents let them drive all summer when they were not legal? My brother and his wife were very strict all summer and drove him to practices until he could drive himself when school started. Why do other drive reckless, drink, and so on and nothing happens?
Today is the young man's funeral. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. I can't even imagine what they are going through. My brother and his wife are going but were told to stay back to see how the other parents would react. They are going through the normal emotions...anger, why, denial...
Well, thank you for allowing me this time. I needed to purge. This shows us how "life is a vapor"...in a matter of seconds, it can be changed or gone.
BTW...today is my brother's birthday. He will be 42. His 40 birthday was spent in Kuwait. His 39th was in Iraq. My nephew's birthday will be the 19th. He will be 16 and legal to drive with a passenger.
We posed at the base of a statue of "Mark Twain" while on the tour. I love victorians so I snapped these beautiful homes as we drove by. I was drooling!
We rode this trolley around town. I loved the windows with the etchings. The view of the river was taken while on the tour.
