Church Road

About a week ago we were having some crazy weather in the sense that with the heat came melting of the snow. And in some areas there was more snow than others. Like out by my parents in the county they had more accumulation then we did in town because of drifting and such. Growing up out there you always knew to be careful in the springtime because the snow would melt off the farm fields into the drainage ditches and start to flood. That water would eventually run itself over the Weekquiock falls and down to the bay of Green Bay. There were problems though with it actually coming up over the banks and flooding the street. Well a few years ago (probably 10… when these girls were little and would not have noticed it) the town expanded the water underpass beneath Church Road to make it possible for the water to move faster in the hopes that it would not flood quite as much. It was at this time that they took down the guardrails because they were putting in new cement culverts (of sorts). I cant tell you how it happened, weather that be the wet roads, going too fast, a distraction at the wheel or lack of experience driving, but last week two 16 year old girls lost their lives in that creek bed. Everything that could have gone wrong for them did go wrong. There was melting conditions with the addition of rain and coming right off a highway to turn right takes some preparation. I am not sure exactly what happened but last Monday they flipped their car upside down into the creek and drowned… it’s so sad. It makes me want to take Kyra to go see it and discuss the accident with her. These girls were only a few years older than her and now they are gone forever- because of something they did themselves. It’s not like it was someone else’s fault… I hope to instill in her the concept that cars are actually quite dangerous and can literally kill you if you are not careful. I remember being a kid and hearing about the first person around my age to be killed in an accident. Jack Rakin was about 14 years old and was riding on an ATV on one of the local country highways. I don’t know if he was messing around or if the semi driver was looking down but it really didn’t matter because he got hit by a semi and that was that. I still shudder every time I go past the intersection when we are traveling that way. And I am pretty sure that I wont ever forget this unfortunate event either, especially seeing there are crosses staked into the creek on the corner of Church Road (my parents live right off this street). The creepy part is that there is a cemetery right across the highway. Thank Goodness they were not members of Holy Cross, but could you imagine dying only 30 yards from where you would be buried? It totally gibes me the willies. I had heard about it at work that night and lucky for me they did not come into the hospital I worked at. Not that it really would have mattered because they had died right there in the creek bed but an MD has to actually declare them dead not an EMT. I just didn’t want to have to experience what a parent goes through when their child dies- I hope I never have too. I hugged the hell out of those babies when I got home.