Special needs aren’t always acquired before or at birth. Sometimes parents of perfectly healthy children find themselves in a situation where they have to make peace with a terrible accident that has changed their child forever. This is a true story written by someone who was just a child and was there when one of her own friends was involved in an accident.
The other night I was lying awake in bed plagued by guilt due to something that happened almost 17 years ago. I knew in my heart I shouldn’t have felt this way, but I couldn’t seem to shake the grief. So I began to pray…
My mom ran an in-home daycare while I was younger. During this time I began a friendship with a girl who was there whom I’ll refer to as Joy. As I emerged into my pre-teen years I made some poor choices; probably the worst of which was sneaking puffs on cigarettes at the bus stop with many of the other middle-school kids. As a result, understandably I was informed that Joy’s parents had forbid her from spending time with me.
Joy, who was just a year younger than me was spunky, independent and full of adventure. She came to visit me one day when I was 12 years old. I told her I wanted to pay her back for a magazine she had purchased for me and that I was off to the local country store to purchase some candy and pop; whatever she wanted. She told me she wasn’t supposed to be with me or she’d be in trouble and I told her we could get together a different time because I didn’t want her parents to dislike me any more than they did. She assured me that it was really okay.
I recall walking through our neighborhood on the way to the store that day. She was running up the bank on the side of the road then running back down into the road. I told her, “Joy! You’d better watch out or you’ll get hit by a car.” She laughed and went on to tell me a story of her friend who told her it’s better to walk across a street even if a semi-truck is coming; Joy felt it would be better to run.
Anyway, we approached this same friend’s home where Joy got some money she’d claimed she was hiding from her sister. We were then off to the street where we crossed and entered the store.
So many things to choose from, Joy decided on the Jolly Rancher sticks, a Pepsi, and some bubblegum. I don’t recall what I purchased. As we were preparing to cross the street, we saw two of the neighbor boys who were our age waiting for us. It was rush hour traffic on a two-way street with a speed posted of 45 miles per hour. Joy looked one direction and I looked the other.
Suddenly, I hear brakes, and turn to tell Joy, “Oh my goodness there was an accident!” But there was no opportunity to do so as I watched her body roll down the road. She was hit by a truck. I ran into the road as did the man who’d struck her. He yelled for me to call 911. I ran as fast as I could but the store workers were already on the phone and the paramedics on their way.
Please continue to part 2 of this 3 part series.
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Melissa is a Families.com Christian Blogger. Read her blogs at: http://members.families.com/mj7/blog