Reflecting on a life-changing experience
Sara Williams
Spring break '00 is one I will never forget. It was the day so many lives changed and the day I lost my best friend. Kristi Morris and I were driving to Myrtle Beach to visit a good friend of ours from high school who was going to school there. I remember the day of our departure so clearly. It seemed nothing would go our way. Kristi got two flat tires on two different occasions, and it seemed I would never run out of errands to run. When we finally left at 10:30 p.m. that night the only care we had was getting there early enough to nap before we went out that night. The feeling of, "Is this really happening?" had us so full of excitement.
We had always gone on small trips together to Purdue and Cedar Point, but this was to be our senior spring break and a trip to always remember. We stayed awake talking to each other for a couple of hours until Kristi fell asleep and the switching off began. It was Kristi's second time driving when we crashed. It's crazy to think of how fast our lives can change, and then to actually have it happen.
I was asleep and woke up to Kristi screaming and then it was over as fast as it started. The truckers had me out of the car before I had a chance to comprehend what had just happened, or to even have a chance to say "goodbye." I heard them yelling at each other to get the fire extinguishers, and others trying to help get Kristi out of the car. So many people stopped to help us; it's heart wrenching to know I will never know who any of them are. The ambulance arrived and had me on the way to the hospital when they told me. I could hear the EMT and the driver talking back and forth to each other and the radio keeping them updated. The EMT then told me the driver had passed him a note telling him Kristi didn't make it. The feeling of hopelessness is so overwhelming the only thing you can do is cry.
It's amazing how your view of life changes when you experience something so traumatic. Priorities change, friends change and everything you thought you knew is challenged. When I was in the ER, the doctors asked what Kristi's last words were. Everything had happened so fast that I hadn't thought about it until that moment. I visualized the accident and remembered a split second of complete peace when Kristi told me, "I love you and I'm sorry." The doctors told me it wasn't possible because she was unconscious in 30 seconds and dead in three minutes and she was so disoriented she wouldn't have been able to talk in those 30 seconds. Even though it was painful to hear, that has been my driving force to this day because I know it was her spirit that told me. All it did was make me feel stronger about knowing where she is. I know she is an angel and is with me all of the time. It's comforting when you have lost someone physically, to know theyare still with you spiritually. I know I can't feel or touch her, but I feel her presence when I talk or pray to her. It's special in so many ways because you know she's gone but not really.
Kristi and I were a part of each other's lives for eight wonderful years, and her love for God and life taught me so much. She touched so many of our lives, and every life she touched she made better. I am who I am today because of her.
Even in death, Kristi makes her love for us all present. Ironically, the most powerful supportive words I have received to deal with this incident are from Kristi. When we left for Spring Break, Kristi had sent a card to her cousin a couple of days before for some moral support. Ironically, the message she wrote is what so many of us have used to keep us going, "Sometimes when we pray — we pray for bad times to go quickly and good times to last longer; but it is when we pray for the Lord's grace that he carries us peacefully through all times."
Sara Williams
Senior, Saint Mary's
farwil@gte.net
August 23, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, August 24, 2000
