Exciting news! I have moved blogs. I am in the process of slowly moving all the posts over. Please join me at MomOffTrack.com.
Shoes Image Courtesy of Grant MacDonald
For me, it is SHOES.
SHOES????
Yes, SHOES! That was the only image the media was able to show after a car going 60 miles an hour ran a red light and hit her. She was 4. She was walking with her aunt and brother to get a popsicle at 7-11. She was dead instantly. Her body destroyed by the impact of the car. She was knocked out of her shoes and they flew into the middle of the road.
Her name was Jenny Marie and I used to babysit her. Her mom was a very good friend of my mom. She was the most adorable little girl. The kind people stopped to notice. Everyone who knew her was devastated.
I was 15. Just getting my drivers license. I remember two images: the shoes and her distorted body in the open casket. Why they choose an open casket I will never understand but her flattened face has never left me.
I learned that day what immense power a car had. It has the power to destroy lives, destroy families. I learned that cars deserve a lot of respect. I learned that you had to respect the power a car has and never, ever think that you are more powerful than it. I learned a lot.
Then I forgot….
I was a college freshman and lets just say it wasn’t the year of best judgment for me in so many ways. I woke up in my dorm with a pounding headache and an upset stomach. Weird thing was, I had no idea how I got there. I was last at a large party with way too much alcohol….
To my horror as the haze cleared I realized I drove myself home. It wasn’t more than a few blocks but what the hell was I thinking? How could I do I that? I remember being soooo scared. What if I hurt someone? Of course, nothing was hurt but her face and those shoes came back into view and I remember just crying and crying.I can’t believe I would let her down like that.
I have never been behind the wheel of a car after drinking again. I can’t. If I am driving, I go to a party and see everyone having fun but I still see the shoes.
If everything that happens in life has a reason, I would like to think she left those shoes lying in the middle of Indian School road as a reminder to everyone that saw them the immense consequences of not respecting the power we have to choose not to drink and drive. I would like to think that, perhaps, the people that remember her shoes have made different choices that may have saved others. Perhaps the shoes are meant to remind us that we all have a responsibility to remind others that drinking and driving kills and leaves holes in the hearts of millions. That extra drink isn’t worth it.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of MADD. A donation was made to MADD in my name to thank me for taking the time to participate. Please check out the Power of Parents website for more information.
to my little corner of the blogosphere. I am Barb, an ex-public school teacher turned blogger and forum owner. Read all about our family antics as we muddle through the chaos that occurs daily when you mix a work-at-home-mom with an unschooled, wheeling, tween and a teen in Catholic school. Not to mention my very traditional high school sweetheart turned husband of 17 years. Hey, at least I am giving my kids something to talk about in therapy when they get older...
What a very sad story, Barb.
I was 15 when I got my own image: that of my mom’s little green sports car and unused seat belts. My parents left me and my sisters home one night to go visit friends; we were stationed in Belgium at the time. My mom had a sporty little green 2 door that my sisters and I hated squishing ourselves into the back seat of.
About half an hour after they’d been gone, we got a phone call. I answered and it was another of my parents’ friends, grilling me about my parents and where they were; I knew immediately something was wrong, but of course they wouldn’t tell me.
Hours later, my dad called from the hospital: they’d been hit by a drunk driver. Down a long stretch of empty 2 lane road, a drunken woman decided to do a U-turn right in front of my parents.
My mom’s little green car was totaled. Fortunately for us, and despite that they weren’t wearing seat belts, my parents were fine. My mom, in the passenger seat, hit the windshield, but only had to stay overnight at the hospital. My dad was perfectly fine.
Up until then, I hated wearing my seat belt, but since then I don’t get into a car without one, and nobody rides in my car without wearing one.
I’m not a big drinker, but I won’t drive if I’ve had more than one drink, and I won’t let anybody I’m with take that chance, either.
Thank you for sharing your story; I hope it was okay to share mine.
It was wonderful that you shared yours. I am so happy that your parents were ok. Thanks for sharing!
Good post Barb. When I was 19 I was hit head on by a lady who fell asleep. I was dealing with fear of driving again and many days my parents would take me and pick me up from work. One day on the way home my Mom was lecturing me how the likes of being in an accident like that are slim to none. Later that night our family was all in our car headed out to eat when a drunk driver came head on at us. Praise God that my Dad was driving and was able to barely avoid the collision. We turned around and followed the car to where he crashed into the side of an apartment building just 1/4 mile up the road. That one instance has forever changed my life. The man got out of the car and kept saying over and over “no one got hurt”. Meanwhile I was in our car freaking out because in 1 months time I could have been hit 2 times! Neither I nor my family drink, and I hope that those who do will never drive.