someone else's tragedy
You read about a terrible thing in the newspaper -- fire, a drowning, a shooting. You think "oh how sad for them" and you move on.
Until it hits home.
This week the media is obsessing over a fatal auto accident. Eight young women, a bachelorette party, rented a limo last Saturday, and headed to the wineries on the East End of Long Island. On a country road in Cutchogue, the limo driver started to make a U turn, when the limo was T-boned by a pickup truck. Three of the women died at the scene of the accident, one died in the hospital a short time later. Two others are seriously hurt. We're told that the bride survived. The driver of the truck has been charged with DUI.
They did everything right. And yet they died.
The newspaper published the pictures, names, ages and home towns of the victims. They were young women in their mid 20's, mostly from Long Island. They look just like my daughters and my daughters' friends. For all I know, my daughters may actually know one or more of the victims -- they're from a town just 15 minutes east of our home.
It's haunting me.
And when I said something to Drew....
Well, he started flashing back to 1987.
April 1987, and we were obsessing over the details of our upcoming wedding, when someone else's tragedy helped put things in perspective for us.
A limo, carrying a bride and groom, the bride's sister (maid of honor) and the groom's brother (best man). They'd been married in a beautiful church ceremony, and were on their way to their reception at a catering hall in Lido Beach. As the driver attempted to make the left turn into the catering hall parking lot, the limo was hit by a speeding car. The driver of the car was drag racing.
The groom and his brother died at the scene. Two weeks later, the bride died, too.
The driver of the car was convicted of criminally negligent homicide.
28 years later, it still affects me.
Until it hits home.
This week the media is obsessing over a fatal auto accident. Eight young women, a bachelorette party, rented a limo last Saturday, and headed to the wineries on the East End of Long Island. On a country road in Cutchogue, the limo driver started to make a U turn, when the limo was T-boned by a pickup truck. Three of the women died at the scene of the accident, one died in the hospital a short time later. Two others are seriously hurt. We're told that the bride survived. The driver of the truck has been charged with DUI.
They did everything right. And yet they died.
The newspaper published the pictures, names, ages and home towns of the victims. They were young women in their mid 20's, mostly from Long Island. They look just like my daughters and my daughters' friends. For all I know, my daughters may actually know one or more of the victims -- they're from a town just 15 minutes east of our home.
It's haunting me.
And when I said something to Drew....
Well, he started flashing back to 1987.
April 1987, and we were obsessing over the details of our upcoming wedding, when someone else's tragedy helped put things in perspective for us.
A limo, carrying a bride and groom, the bride's sister (maid of honor) and the groom's brother (best man). They'd been married in a beautiful church ceremony, and were on their way to their reception at a catering hall in Lido Beach. As the driver attempted to make the left turn into the catering hall parking lot, the limo was hit by a speeding car. The driver of the car was drag racing.
The groom and his brother died at the scene. Two weeks later, the bride died, too.
The driver of the car was convicted of criminally negligent homicide.
28 years later, it still affects me.
Comments
Post a Comment