September 1, 2008

My life changed on August 20, 2007. Truthfully, it ended. At 6:00pm on the 27th my husband received a phone call from the Brookings Police Department that our eldest son, Kevin, had been severely injured in a skateboard accident and was being airlifted to Sioux Falls, SD.

I was on my way home from work and just blocks from home when he called. He asked where I was and told me to hurry home. When I arrived home he told me of the call. We quickly gathered our other two children who were visiting my parents, threw clothes into suitcases and took off for a 5 hour trip to Sioux Falls.

I won't tell you the entire story now, Kevin was unconscious and never regained consciousness. He stayed in the ICU for 1 week. He did not improve from the treatments or the surgery. He died August 27, 2007. His funeral service was 4 days later.

I say that my life ended that day because nothing would ever be the same from that moment on. My entire world was rocked. I had a perfect life. I had everything that was important to me. My husband and I had given our lives to raising our sons. It was an incredible, rewarding experience. At seventeen months apart they were involved with many of the same activities, social circles and experiences. They were both wonderful athletes and strong individuals. Home was never quiet. It was filled with laughter, rough housing, friends and fun. Our friends were parents of kids that the boys knew. Our summers were baseball, our falls were football and our winters were wrestling. Help with school projects, support of sports activities and holding offices with their programs filled our lives. All this focus and love had paid off with big dividends. We loved and liked our boys. They grew into people we would love to be around. Sure there was mistakes and misdirections on the path of life, but we always allowed the boys to choose their directions and handle their consequences. There were hard times, fights and tears, but we always said "I love you" at the end of our conversations.

In 2002, our family faced a big change of plans. At 42, I was pregnant...