Life’s Short: Enjoy the Little Things Part 1

I was in the middle of my stats class on Wednesday, May 19th 2010 when I received a phone call some time after 5:30 pm. I checked to see who it was and saw that it was my mother. I thought to myself that whatever she had to talk to me about it could wait until I was out of class. The thing is my class started at 5:30 pm and class didn’t end until 9:30 pm so I didn’t want to leave at the beginning of class to take a phone call. (Tom was actually in class while I was at home watching our kids. We had the webcam set up so that I could be “in class” as well in a way.) Anyways about the phone call, I just put my phone to the side and ignored the phone call. To my surprise I received three more phone calls from my mother and then one from my little brother and then one from my little sister. I was thinking, "What the heck everyone wants to talk to me today." Then I thought that maybe everyone was calling to wish Keilee a belated birthday since her birthday was the day prior, so I didn’t think anything of it. I messaged my husband and he told me that I should probably take it cause it could be serious. So I called my mother back and asked what it was that she needed to talk to me about. These next few words were going to shatter my world. I was not prepared for what I was about to find out.

“Christi, Lindy is dead.” I was stunned, honestly I wasn’t sure what my mother said at first and then it hit me. I said, “No…, you have got to be kidding me.” I began to cry while my mother then proceeded to say, “Lindy died in a car wreck on her way up to Boise. She rolled the car and she didn’t have her seat belt on. All three kids are fine, but are really scared and keep asking for their mom.” Things started to trail off and I am not sure what else my mother said, but all I remember thinking is “My poor brother, what is he going to do.”

I have never had to deal with death before especially with someone I knew before. Lindy was my brother Kyler’s wife. They had three children ages 4, 3, and 8 months old. She was 24 years old, one year older than me. I struggled for the longest time to keep my emotions under control, but I just couldn’t keep from crying. I kept thinking how Lindy must be feeling. As a mother, I dread that I will not be able to take care of my children. Was Lindy struggling with not being able to grab her kids in her arms and comfort them?

To be continued…