Life is Fragile

This evening I learned that earlier today, a friend of Mike's died in a car accident.  She ran a stop sign and was broadsided by a tractor trailer.  Her seven-year-old daughter was air lifted to a hospital, where she is currently fighting for her life.  Mike said he went out to lunch with this woman, and her daughter, and her husband, two days ago.  It was the couple's 11th wedding anniversary.

I knew the family, though not well.  But it's still overwhelming to think about.  I can only imagine what the woman's husband is going through right now.  Imagine your wife and daughter leaving the house in the morning, healthy and whole, and a couple hours later getting a call that your wife is dead and your daughter may  not survive and you'd better get in your car and drive to the hospital as fast as you can so maybe you can at least see your daughter alive one last time.

And that poor little girl.  If she lives, she's badly injured, she's in the hospital, she'll be in pain, she'll want her mother.  I don't know the details of the accident, I don't know if she was unconscious the whole time or if she was awake and aware that her mother was dead in the car with her, while waiting for help to arrive.  I don't know if her mother died instantly or if this little girl sat trapped in the car, scared and in pain, listening to her mother die.  She's seriously injured, so she may end up having to deal with a long and difficult recovery process, or even a permanent disability, at the same time she's dealing with the loss of her mom.

And her poor father.   Best case scenario, he has to cope with supporting a severely injured, scared, emotionally traumatized little girl while coping with the loss of his wife.  That's if he's lucky.  That's the best case scenario here.  Worst case scenario, after he plans his wife's funeral, he gets to bury his daughter.

We all know life is fragile, right?  We all know any of us, or any of the people we love, could walk out our front door and get run over by a bus today.  We all know that none of us is promised another day.  But wow, when it actually happens, it's such a shock.