Life is Short Folks...

A co-worker called this morning, informing me that she would be late to work. She was distraught as 3 of her nieces died in a car crash early this morning. She started breaking down in between sentences--this was tragic.

Her sister-in-law was driving from Arizona, along with her 4 daughters and 1 niece. They were making the trip to California to attend a wedding near Modesto this coming weekend. It was early in the morning when at 65 mph, the right side of their Chevy Tahoe rammed into the back of a stationary big rig parked along the shoulder of the highway. The right side of the Tahoe litterally ripped appart from the car, ejecting 2 daughters and pinning the other girl amidst a tangle of metal. I hope they all passed away instantly.

I told my co-worker to take the day off--she sounded in no condition to come in to work--but she felt that she didn't have enough PTO available, and she would have to take a day off for the funeral. So she made it in to work. Life's a bitch, isn't it?

She e-mailed me the article, which happens to be on-line, and I was overcome with emotion. I gave her my condolences and choked up a bit. What can you say to someone after such a tragedy happens? Can you imagine the parents?

You just lost 3 out of 4 kids, sorry about that.

She told me that her Dad had been unable to tell her Brother. The father of the girls didn't know until he made it out here to California. His wife had to give him the knews. Something like this is enough to crumple anyone to the ground. It is a stab in the heart, a wrenching of the proverbial serrated sword in the gut.

Life is short, Folks. We can be here one second, and gone the next.

Gone in the blink of an eye.

Tell your loved ones that you love them. Settle your scores. Forgive those who have offended you. Three little girls lost their lives in an instant and a beautiful family from Arizona was broken forever. This can happen to anyone at any time. To paraphrase the Good Book: No one knows the day or the hour...