Day Seven

A Person/Event that has changed your life.

I thought of many pivotal moments in my life that could be the answer to this question. When it boils down to it, there is only one event in this life that dramatically changed the course of my life.

On November 30, 1997 my family was driving home from Tyler's soccer competition Thanksgiving weekend. We got home and I remember hearing my mom screaming from downstairs and thought to myself "Oh mom! She probably saw a mouse or something". I walked out of the bathroom and Brent and Tyler were sitting on the staircase trying to hear what Mom and Dad were talking about so I sat with them. Brandon came upstairs and said, "Jory died." We started to cry.

Jory was my oldest cousin from my Uncle Kim's family. He had just gotten back from a mission about 8 months earlier and we just learned he had died.

The four of us kids went downstairs to my parents' room where they were talking on the phone to someone who delivered more bad news: it wasn't just Jory. Our cousins Heath and Rick had passed away too.

Their whole family was driving home from their aunt's house. Uncle Kim, Aunt Darlene, Kimi, Kelly and Shannon in one car. Jory, Heath and Rick following behind in Jory's brand new mustang. Uncle Kim watched them the entire drive home through his rear-view mirror, so he saw when Jory's car was side-swiped by a semi-truck which blew the tire and caused the car to steer into oncoming traffic. They were then hit by an oncoming expedition. They ran to their boys' aid and saw the Jory and little Rick, only 11 years old, were already gone. Heath, who had been asleep in the backseat, was alive but in critical condition. They life-flighted him to the hospital and tried desperately to save him, but couldn't. In a flash of an eye, their family had been cut right in half.

My family drove to my grandma's house where the rest of the family was waiting for us. I remember the song "How Do I Breathe Without You?" by Leann Rimes came on the radio.

"How do I get through one night without out? If I had to live without you, what kind of life would that be?"

I couldn't imagine an event being more tramautizing. I know that they ONLY way we made it through was by the grace of our Heavenly Father. He wrapped His arms around us and helped us to make it through. This event testified to me the presence of our Heavenly Father-he is real and cares about my problems.

This event taught me the importance of Family. That it's the most important aspect of this life and so we need to make our families our main priority. I know that this is what caused my family to be so close, because we were able to see how fast things can change and so we cherish our time together.

I saw the damaging effects that this event had on people. Some fell away from church, some fell away from family, some fell away from living. This event taught me of the reality of Satan's power. He made people (even me, sometimes) believe that God didn't care about us, because if he did, he would have never let this happen. The truth is, bad things happen to undeserving people every day. This event gave me perspective. I know that Heavenly Father only gives us what we can handle. I know that if bad things happen, it is because our Father knows we have the strength to endure it. Keep that in mind.

It's been nearly 13 years since this tragedy occured and I'm sitting here bawling as I write this, because it feels like it was yesterday. Not a day goes by that I don't think of my cousins and I try to live like Christ so that I can make it back to Heaven to see them again. While I am saddened about the event, I am grateful for the knowledge that I gained from it.

I love you Jory, Heath and Rick.