I received some very sad news on Friday night. My cousin, Mark, was killed in a hit and run accident on CR 29 earlier in the day. I looked at Doug as soon as I read the text and just started crying. I felt awful. Doug had driven by that area shortly before he was found and hadn't seen anything. I asked Cameron if he remembered anyone out walking when we drove home, but he didn't either. There wasn't anything that we could have done to prevent the accident, but I wished that we could have.
Life had been challenging for Mark from the beginning. He was born deaf in a world before cochlear implants were even envisioned. We all tried our best, but it was hard to communicate with him. Even so, Bunk and I had always enjoyed hanging out with Mark, his sister Anne and younger brother Dave. It was fun to have cousins our own ages and I had a lot of found memories of them especially playing games at my Grandma Musser's on holidays. Although our paths went separate ways after I graduated from high school, I would still see Mark a couple of times a year at the grocery store. He always had a big smile on his face when he greeted me.
My Dad told me that Mark had fallen on tough times as of late. I was really sorry to hear that. I knew that no matter what, no one deserved his fate. After a few days, I realized that I couldn't change what happened to Mark, but I could remember a happier time - one where all of the cousins including Mark and my brother were together, hanging out and enjoying each other's company. No reckless driver could ever take that away from me.
No comments:
Post a Comment