Sad News

What is the worst possible way for you to find out that someone has died? I can think of a few scenarios from experience.

1. You are about 15 and minding your own business. Listening to the radio and cleaning your room in the early afternoon. As the current song ends, they break for a news story. In the news story they are talking about a tragic death that happened the night before. Two teens were on their way home and took a curve to fast. The passenger flew in front of the driver (no seatbelt) and his chect was crushed by the steering wheel. Then they say the name of the young man. It is a friend of the family. Your mom and his mom work together. You have been to their house. Just talked to him the other day in school.

Talk about a shock to your system. I ran to my mom with the radio in tow. She quickly called a mutual friend and found out that it was indeed the teen that we knew.

2. You hear on the news about a young kids dying in the next town over when he failed to stop at a stop sign while riding his bicycle. He flew right threw the stop sign and into the back of a milk tanker truck on a back country road just down from you. The next morning on the way to work, you stop to get the newspaper and see that it is a young teen that is in Scouts with your own teen. In fact just 2 weeks prior, they were on a camping trip for a week up at the damn.

Another complete shock. I almost fell down in the store. I was so shaken and upset and just couldn't believe it was this teen. I never thought I would have known the teen as the TV reported the wrong town in the original story.

3. You work midnight the night before, come home and go immediately to bed. When you finally get up, you get online and check out the new stories for the day. One of the top stories reads: Woman hit by train identified as CK. You are in total disbelief. They must have the wrong name. But as you read on, you realize that it really is your friend.

This happened to my mum yesterday. The friend was our childhood babysitter. She still kept in touch with us. Sent us Christmas cards every year. Her house sits about 100 yards from the train tracks. (if that far) Apparently she had crossed the tracks and went to the local drug store. On the way back she crossed the tracks again and was walking along the tracks. Not on them. There was some type of arm sticking out from one of the rail cars and it hit her in the back of the head killing her instantly almost right in front of her house. I feel really bad for her husband as their only child (daughter) was killed in a car accident several years ago.

There are many ways to find out someone died, but these three examples are terrible. I will take a late night phone call anytime over finding out on the news, radio or paper.

Sorry this is such a sad post. I will try to get a lighter one up tomorrow.

Stacy