Tragedy

Monday, August 17th 1987
Dedicated to the Lichtenwalter Family in memory of Keith and David

                                       Tragedy

         You receive the horrible news over the phone.  You try to stay calm listening and trying to understand.  But once you hang up you bury your tear-dripping face into your trembling hands.  Crying out your loss while your hands in front of your eyes try to hide the fact of what just happened.
         The grief has begun.

         Then trying to console one another.  Holding hands firmly, crying with one another as the tragedy has affected you all.  You all are family who have lost two very loving people of your family.

         Remembrance takes your heart and mind over now.  Remembering the good and bad times.  Chuckling and crying.  You focus on remembering their lives from birth to death.  After awhile it’s over and you say to yourself “is that it!  There has to be more!  Much, much, much more!”  But there is not.  The anger and crying starts all over again.  The tissue box is almost empty.

         Denial.
         You might try to block it out of your mind.  Telling yourself that their back at home doing fine.  Sometimes it works, but not for long, especially when you go to sleep.  Images from what you have found out on that tragic day.  Images of the crash, the blood, and screams!  You wake up to wetness.  The tears that cried out during the night.

         Reality.
         Realizing that two loved ones have died, and the other’s are still alive.  Thank goodness!  But the tragedy has just begun.  Their lives will never be the same.  What will they do?  Then the years to come will still be tragic.  When there are wedding anniversaries, birthdays and graduations.  
Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.  Knowing that they are with you in spirit, but cannot physically be with you.
         Days, weeks, months, and years will go by.  You may walk by a family picture in the family room, or feel sad and lonely and look at a photo album.  Each time you will remember their life and what they had accomplished.  Tears will trickle down your face and ultimately you will have to put the album down and cry out loud.

         You cannot believe that they are gone.  But unfortunately they are.
         You miss the two of them very much.
                                       So do I. 
                                       So do I,