Four funerals

Four different families prepare

four individual funerals in our community

while their children will be forever linked together.

I am speaking of the tragic accident of this

weekend that took the lives of four teenagers

from Vanderbilt Catholic.

My human mind does not want to think about it,

too painful but my parent mind can think of nothing else.

Baby girl and her bestie, Meagan and were discussing it

yesterday and I shared that I do not know if I would

want to continue living if I was faced with this

in my life. It's because I don't know how you do go on.

Yeah, I can talk of my God and how God gets you through

things like that but really, when tragedy is so fresh

I am not sure this is comforting to a parent right away.

I can barely read the Comet article and just like my

thoughts I am pulled to reading every detail.

If you have teenagers or young adults, you can relate to

the beginning of the story.

Your child is going to an outing with friends.

Right at first, you are happy for them, not about to say no.

They need this new found independence, a chance to do things

on their own. Your heart wants to say no but you know

this is selfish. You are thankful for cell phones and texting

because you know that at least you can keep in touch with

your child through the whole adventure.

The four sets of parents probably watched the LSU game

excited that their child was there.

There will be no sleep for the parents as the children start

their trip home. If they were like me, they laid on the sofa, waiting.

At 1:00 am the phone call comes that they are almost home.

I believe the call was made from the driver to his mother.

I know she had to be relieved because I have been there.

Just a few more minutes and her child will walk through

the door and be filled with stories of his adventure.

The mother will be proud of him but most importantly of herself

because she went against what she really wanted to do and hold

him back. Yet, at 3 am, they still were not home.

I know what her mind went through as well as the rest of the parents

because I too have played the mind games when a child is missing

even if for a few hours. By this time she has to notify the rest of

the parents who I am sure were not resting any better than her.

They begin their own search for their babies.

Finally the police get involved and after a few hours their

vehicle is found submerged upside down in water.

All four teens are still in the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.

I want to change this, I do not want this to be the reality these

families face these days. It is too painful.

Forever they will question, what were the last few minutes of

their lives like.

I don't want to be morbid but I will say just what all are thinking.

What did they do in those moments before they died.

Were they killed on impact, did they try and escape?

As baby girl said, what did they say to each other as they probably

felt they would be rescued.

I want them to have died on impact, I hope the autopsies shows

that there was not words spoken because they couldn't speak.

The parents and close loved ones will replay this in their heads

forever, "What were their last minutes like"

and the answers to this is enough to want to die because

they will never know.

Although there is no easy way to go on and accept this,

finding that they did not know their fate, would help

everyone involved.

BG and I spoke of how hard it was when we all lost Robert

and he was just one. Four children, four friends to be lost

at the same time, it is wrong.

I tell teens and young adults, be safe, please...

Many times I have been in that limbo that there has been

no call or knowledge as to where your child is in the early hours

of the morning. I fussed about it so much that now BG at least

sends me a text often as to where she is.

After this accident I know she will be better about letting

me know her where-abouts all the time.

I think she understands how a parents mind wonders to

places unimaginable in that short time until we know

where our babies are.

"What if they were in an accident?"

"what if someone has taken them and is hurting them?"

The games our minds play when our babies whereabouts are not known.

For these parents, 4 sets, their worst nightmare has come true.

They will not only have to attend their own child's funeral

but three others that would be the best friends of their child.

Nothing good about this and as I said earlier, all wrong.

God bless all who are affected by this accident

that ended in the very worst scenario imaginable.

God bless the school of Vanderbilt Catholic who

somehow have to teach a positive lesson to their students

knowing that there is no good in all of this.

God bless the students of the school who unfairly now

will never look at their high school years without remembering

this tragedy.

God bless the adults who somehow have to help these children

when they need help of their own to understand.

God bless the parents and the families. There is

nothing that I can write here that will not sound generic or vague.

Last but not least, God bless our whole community,

it is not supposed to happen like this and yet,

sometimes it does, unfairly.