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Guest
·I want to thank everyone for their kind words and support. It was a difficult weekend. We when to the visitation on Saturday, there was alot of people there. It was an open casket which we were not expecting, as she went through the windshield. It didn't look like her, they had made a lot of repairs to her face and put on thick make-up to try to hide their handy work. But I'm glad it didn't look like her, I don't want to remember her that way. Joyce was very calm, (I think from sheer exhaustion) her face was swollen and red but she seemed calm, she paid extra attention to Rose, hugging her and talking about the comming baby. They hugged for so long a huge line up was waiting behind us. We went to the funeral yesterday, it was so difficult, Joyce looked as if she were going to colapse, her small children looked confused and didn't understand, one of them asked why the pretty box was being put in the ground. Several people were sobbing, but mostly it was very quiet tears, we didn't want to push joyce over the edge, though I don't consider myself a crier I found it nearly impossible to be calm, tears poured down Rose's face but she never made a sound. But as the minister got to the "ashes to ashes" part Joyce started to sob and wail, and then she bolted from the cemetary, then everyone lost it, Kevin had to put us in the car one at a time. Joyce was upset later that she had done it, she was worried people would think she was rude! There was nothing she could have done that we would not have understood. Joyce is the youngest of a large family, and in the comming days they will give her comfort, but as they drift away to get on with their lives Rose and I will make sure she gets our attention, we wrote all our contact numbers in the cards and Joyce wants to know when the baby comes, Rose is hoping for a girl so she can name it Sarah. I should have mentioned that the drunk driver was killed also and it was a woman. This 32 year old woman was Sarah's softball coach, she had picked the kids up at Sarah's cousins. Once they were on the road Sarah & Mike knew she was drunk, Sarah pleaded with her to pull over and let them out, they took their seat belts off believing she intended to drop them by the side of the road, but she lost control, the car flipped, the driver & Sarah were killed on impact. There were 2 boys in the back, my cousin Mike & a boy named Brian. Brian hadn't taken off his seatbelt, and only had minor bruises, Mike broke both his legs, received severe head & face injuries. They removed a piece of his skull to relieve the presure, put in a trake tube, and yesterday he had his first operation to try to reconstruct his face, one of many. He can't feel his legs from the knees down, which may get better.He is listed in stable condition, but he will never be the same. The moral of this story, don't trust anyone with your kids, and never take your seatbelt off until the car is at a complete stop.The other difficult thing about the funeral was that the driver was put in the viewing room across the hall from Sarah, in better circumstances that would never have happened, but as I mentioned before, its a very small town with only one funeral home, at least they didn't hold her service on the same day. The terrible part was that several people went to view the womans remains and said loud enough to be heard that they wanted to see Sarahs killer. I felt bad for that womans family. Well its done, time for the healing to begin, if such a thing is possible. Thank you for being so supportive, and for all of the kind emails.I am feeling weary and sore, and coping with a headache but I held up well under the circumstances, I don't feel any more miserable physically than I usually do, at least for the moment, and of course the IBS is back with a vengence, but thats to be expected I guess.Anyway, thanks for listening to me babble.Lori Ann
