By Kitt Zillinger
December
19, 2014, a day scheduled to celebrate Christmas with my mom, sisters and
stepfamily. All dressed in our best,
wine in the fridge, food in the oven, almost everyone had arrived.
Everyone
except my sister Mary and her son; she was frequently late so we brushed it
off… until she wouldn’t answer her phone. Call it sister intuition, but myself
and other two sisters had an eerie feeling.
We
rushed to leave the house and drive to find her, hoping we would meet her on
the highway. Instead, we met the scene of a car accident. Ambulances, fire
trucks, emergency workers and by-standers all became a blur as I saw her Jeep
and the car that had hit her.
We
saw my nephew, who seemed to be uninjured, and the woman who hit her loaded in
the ambulance. She also appeared to have minor injuries, nothing life
threatening. The emergency workers had told us everyone involved was wearing a
seat belt. We gave ourselves hope and rushed to the hospital to meet her
ambulance. When we arrived, the clerk simply stated, “Girls, they’re coding
her.”
December
19, a day set aside to share love and joy among my family, turned into my worst
nightmare. Christmas, which was a day to look forward to, was now just a day in
the way of planning her funeral.
Don’t
let your holidays turn into a nightmare, buckle up, put down the phone and put
the brakes on fatalities.
Kitt Zillinger is from Almena and is a
student at Fort Hays State University.
I'm so sorry, Kitt. Sometimes doing everything right still can't prevent a tragedy. I hope you and your family can focus on the good times you had with with your sister this Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad. I can't imagine how horrible this was. I'll be thinking about you and your family this holiday season and keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDelete