My friends often say “you’re so strong,” but that’s a choice for me. They aren’t with me when I drive to and from work and that special song comes on the radio. My throat tightens up and the tears stream from my eyes and all I can think about is her.
They aren’t with me when I wake up on her birthday each December, so close to Christmas, and we’re supposed to celebrate. They aren’t with me to understand how much my heart aches when I watch my two sons score touchdowns or goals or go to state and I know how much they miss her cheers and words of encouragement, and most of all her advice.
They are not with me when all her friends
graduate from college and her name is in glitter on their caps. They
aren’t with me when her best friends get married and she is recognized as their
maid of honor but she isn’t there. There’s that same feeling of my throat
tightening, threatening to suffocate me and I’m not feeling very strong. They aren’t with me when I’m driving on a highway, any highway, late at night
and it’s all I can do to shake the horrible images that keep flowing into my
head.
Kylie and her brothers |
They aren’t with me when I think it took just
one person. One person who made a choice. One person who chose to
drink. One person who chose to drink a lot. One person who then
chose to get behind the wheel of his car. One person to enter the highway
going 90 mph heading west towards Colorado on the eastbound entrance ramp.
They weren’t with me when I got the call.
They weren’t with me when I had to call my dentist so we could confirm it was
my baby girl. I don’t feel so strong. One person killed two precious young
lives. Both lives, full of love and light, were put out by just one person
who chose to drink and drive.
Life is full of choices, please choose
wisely. Drink responsibly. Select a driver, call a cab, call Uber, call your
mom. Please don’t drink and drive. You can’t take it back.
I wish you could’ve met my daughter, Kylie
Brooke Jobe, and her boyfriend, Kyle Thornburg. Kylie was a 20-year-old sophomore at Oklahoma State University and
her boyfriend, Kyle, was 22 and attended Wichita State University. Both
were from Wichita, were high school sweethearts and had both attended Maize
High School. We had just spent a fabulous spring break skiing together in
Colorado. On their way home, they became the innocent victims of a drunk
driver. They were killed in an instant, at mile marker 211, on I-70, when a 27-year-old man entered the Interstate
going in the wrong direction. He had a blood alcohol level of .23 – almost
three times the legal limit.
Kylie was the light of my life, my best
friend, beautiful and full of life. There are no words to describe the
hole in my heart that can never be filled.
Barby Jobe Myers
Mother of Kylie
Jobe – Born, Dec. 20, 1990 – Killed, March 23, 2011
The lives of Kylie and Kyle are honored each
March at Run2Believe, a 5K race, held at Maize High School. Race proceeds are
used to raise awareness in high schools about the dangers of drinking and
driving and to support scholarships in their honor.
There are no words that can take away the pain of loosing a loved one so close and dear to you, to something that could've and should've not happened had someone been responsible for their actions. Sharing your story could help someone, maybe save someone else's life, someone you may not ever know, or that sharing your story made a difference for someone to make the right choice - to be responsible. Thank you for sharing, for taking the time to care.
ReplyDeleteBetty Oliva
Your story is devastating, Barby, and I'm so sorry. Sharing it here and giving others some idea of the far reaching consequences of bad decisions and driving may save another family from the same heartache. Thank you for sharing your story.
ReplyDelete