A Cold Dose of Reality

Monday was a bear - not because of the start of conference week or Prep's court appearance because of her October wreck - but because I found out about the tragic death of the son of one of our friends from a lifetime ago.

Garrett was only about five days older than PrepGirl; I remember when he was born and waited anxiously for Prep to follow. Garrett's parents were dear, dear people; there wasn't anything we wouldn't do anything for each other.

But they moved to the outlying suburbs and we grew apart; Garrett grew up to be a high school athlete- both a football and basketball player.

Early Sunday morning, his car crossed the center line - apparently going too quickly and possibly drunk, but that hasn't been determined yet - and he died upon impact with another car.

Dead. A dead teenager - 16 1/2 years old.

When I told PrepGirl goodbye yesterday morning, I grabbed her and hugged her hard. Usually, we all just tell each other 'bye and love you - the girls are usually still in bed when I leave - but Prep was up, getting ready Monday morning, so I grabbed her hard. Hard. And she wanted to know what was up. She could see right through me and my transparent self. So I explained what had happened and she was smart enough to reassure me that she was careful, not a curfew breaker, and she absolutely didn't drink. But I reminded her that there were other people who didn't.

Last night, LawyerBoy and I tried to go to the funeral home. Tried, but there were thousands(and I quote the news tonight) thousands of people at the funeral home. We couldn't get near the place.

What a disaster.

Hug your babies tonight.