I couldn't
have asked for much more growing up. I had a good home, a cool older
brother, and two parents who loved me as well as each other. I had lots
of friends, even a few boyfriends, and I was a straight A student. I
thought my biggest worry was asking a boy to the movies!
Then
life as I knew it changed. I was 15.
I had
just finished my freshman year of high school. My brother had just graduated.
It was May 31, 1988. I was at a friend's house when the doorbell rang.
It was the minister and one of my dad's good friends from church. They
solemnly told me they needed to take me home. I racked my brain trying
to figure out what was going on. Then it started to hit me as we pulled
up to my house. There were cars in the street and my aunt was hugging
my mom on the front porch. She didn't say a word to me when I passed
her on the sidewalk.
I stood
with my mom on the porch as she told me that Daddy had been in a car
accident and he had been killed. He had died instantly. I soon learned
that the driver of the other car had been drinking. He was also killed.
I determined that his justice was to be handled by God and not the courts
as I originally wanted.
It
was a Tuesday. The Tuesday after Memorial Day. My uncle was in town
from California so my dad took the day off to go golfing with him. My
dad was driving home when this drunk driver lost control of his vehicle
which had been traveling over 90 mph.
How
is a teenage girl supposed to deal with losing her father? Sadly, I
don't even know how I am supposed to handle it as a 28 year old. None
of my other friends had single parent households. Now I was different
from everyone for the first time in my life and I didn't know what to
do.
Sadly
the hardest moments were yet to come. I became editor for my high school
newspaper - something I had always wanted to do. I received top honors
for my vocal solo at a state competition. I graduated Valedictorian
of my class. I prepared to go to college where I would receive a Master's
degree. I had also met the man I would marry and prepared to walk down
the aisle. Now I think about starting a family and making him a Grandpa.
A drunk driver took all of my chances to share those things with my
Dad.
My
father was a loyal husband and respected friend. He worked hard to provide
for his family and played hard with his friends at the bowling alley.
Then he was gone. I ached for the chance to tell him one more time that
I loved him. I longed for one more chance to feel the stubble on his
cheek when I kissed him good night. I needed just one more road trip
to listen to him sing along with the radio. But he was gone and there
was nothing I could ever do to change it. What I did know was that I
owed it to him to become the woman he would want me to be.
I try
to be successful in everything I do. I try to be a devoted friend and
loving wife. When I have to chance to become a mommy, I will try to
be strong, fair, and supportive. In all I do I try to be kind, trustworthy
and dependable. I do these things not only because he would expect them
from me, but because he taught them to me.
