January 1, 2006
On Saturday at 11:15 AM I got the call. One of our good friend’s daughter has been killed in a car wreck. Happened on the way back from Prescott on I-17 and Happy Valley Road. She wasn’t feeling well and got into the back seat to lie down. She always wears a seat belt, but they were almost home. We’ve all done that. The news said the 16-year-old driver was impaired. Someone told us today he may have nodded off, but at any rate he went off on the shoulder, over-corrected and flipped the car, a ‘97 Saturn, and she was ejected and killed. Every parent’s worst nightmare.

Spent all day today thinking about it. On New Year’s Eve I called my kids and told them to be careful driving. Deena quipped that Thomas is on foot, and I said, “Well, true, but as a parent I’ve thought of all the ways he can die on foot in New York City and frankly, there’s more ways than I'm comfortable with.”

“We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late.”
—Marie Beyon Ray