Guest Post by Sharon DeVellis
Warning...language is not suitable for younger readers, but to edit it would remove the passion that Sharon brought to this post.
I’m so beyond pissed off right now I can’t stand it. While putting on make up this morning while watching Breakfast Television, I listened as Kevin Frankish reported about how a father died in front of his two kids, ages 7 and 11, last night.
Was it a long weekend freak accident? Did he have a heart attack?
No. He was killed from a head-on collision by a driver who was going the wrong way on a major highway. The car is virtually unrecognizable with the front passenger seat pretty much obliterated.
The dad, the one sitting in the now gone front passenger seat, was killed instantly. The mom who was driving was airlifted to a hospital and is in critical condition.
The two kids are unhurt.
But not really. They aren’t fucking unhurt. They lost their father. Their mother is in a hospital and will hopefully recuperate but will have who knows how many months or years to get back to where she was.
The family? That’ll never get back to where it was, will it? Because I can tell you from experience, this accident will be the turning point in their lives. From this point forward, life for them will be known as before the accident and after the accident.
“Alcohol is being investigated as a factor in the collision.”And this is where I say What The Fuck? And yes, I’m using f-bomb. If you’re offended, then walk away from the computer. But I earned the right to use What the fuck when two years ago a drunk driver smashed head-on into our family on a Sunday afternoon as we driving to my inlaws house to celebrate Mother’s Day. I earned it when I had to calm my screaming, bleeding child sitting by the side of the road waiting for police and paramedics to arrive. I earned it when I had to hold both my kids beside me on the ambulance ride to the hospital and when I had to see the drunk driver being admitted AHEAD OF US and he was so drunk he couldn't even tell the nurse his name.
I earned it when I chose to stay sitting with my son in my lap and didn’t get up to beat the shit out of him at that very moment.
I earned it when I had to give my child drunk driving magic every single night before bed in order for him to be able to sleep and when I went to court to read our impact statement in front of a full courtroom, only to have the man who changed our family forever not look me in the eye once, not even when I held up pictures of my sons so he could see who he hurt.
I earned it when I listened as the judge revoked his license for 15 months and gave him a fine to pay and he walked away with his wife to go home to his young child. The one who didn’t need therapy from being in a head-on collision.
So I say What The Fuck.
Because I earned it.
And now this family has earned it and they don’t deserve it.
How many people have to die or be injured in drunk driving accidents before we smarten the hell up and get stricter laws?
For the original blog post and the comments click here.
Photo by David Ritchie
~~Editor's Note~~
At this time there have been no charges laid against the driver who was 18 years old, although alcohol is suspected. In Ontario, the legal drinking age is 19...so I would expect that if alcohol is proven there will be several charges laid.
Once that happens, it is up to the courts to determine what the penalty, upon conviction, should be for:
An underage drinker who kills a father a of two young girls
Seriously injuring the surviving parent
Destroying a family in ways that we can't possibly imagine
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