It's strange how things happen sometimes. Every year about this time I always think about an old school friend of mine.
Then, as I'm clearing away some things in the house this week this photograph on the left drops out onto the floor - it's a photo I've not seen in a long time.
A group of friends, about 14 years old, I'm guessing, crammed into a photo booth just for fun. All 8 of us, so full of hopes and dreams.
Incase you're wondering, that's me on the left with the fuzzy fringe.
So what's strange about this photo making an appearance this week? Well, the girl above me is no longer with us. Katie was killed on this very day back in 1995. Her life snatched from her in a car crash at the tender age of 20.
I think her death affected me more than I let on as I still think about her now, 16 years on and think about what she would have achieved. Her life was pretty perfect, she was young, beautiful and extremely talented.
I still think about how her funeral was the first funeral I'd ever been to and I still remember the faces of her parents and her younger sisters walking behind the coffin.
I remember how one of my friends mothers picked us (two friends and myself) up after the funeral. My friend had a mother you didn't mess with, she was permanently moody (I kid you not) but her mood that day was so warm and affectionate, like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was probably the fact that the 3 of us were all propping each other up in pool of tears or maybe it was just a strange relief that it wasn't her daughter who had been taken from her. Now I'm a parent myself I understand more about how all our parents must have felt when this tragedy hit the community.
I still remember how I hadn't seen Katie for such a long time as she'd been away at Uni then about a week before the accident I'd bumped into her in the local pub. We'd shared some talk and a hug.
Then this happened.
As I say, it's strange how things happen sometimes.
10 comments:
How poignant, it does make you wonder if things like this can be attributed to mere co-incidence. Maybe somewhere, subconsciously you were 'searching' for this photo. It's a very striking photograph, the way most faces are blurred, but the centre is so clear.
I know exactly how you feel about your friend, I cannot bear tot think of what the future holds when I see a group photograph - like the 'end of year' ones at school.
i see this as a reminder to appreciate every day, a lovely tribute to your beautiful friend.
sorry to hear about your friend, it is strange how these things affect us years later.
x
That is so tragic. It's a lovely tribute to your friend and a reminder at how precious life is. x
Such a tragic story Heather. So sorry you lost your Friend and such a lovely young girl lost her life. Her poor parents must have been through hell and back. Sending you a hug xxx
what a moving post heather. it's such a shame. life being snatched away from someone so young...
it's weird you found the photo, and i am so with you on strangely things happen at times...
lots of love to you, tamsyn xxxx
Its every parents nightmare to lose a child at any age.
really moving post heather x x x
It is amazing what effect things have on us that happen when we are much younger, it can take yeras to show.
So sorry you lost your friend when she was so young.
Mich x
A moving and evocative post and a lovely tribute to your friend. You know, only the other day I came across a
magazine piece about my friend's mum, who'd had a brain tumour, that I'd
kept.She died a few years later. I grew up beside that family and was always in
their house. The memories flooded back when I read the piece. I put in safely
away again..
xx Jazzy
How sad. So young. Such a moving post.
So sad and such a tragic waste. So sorry for your friend. Your post reminds me of an old friend who was still my cousin's best friend when she died in a car crash at about the same age. Her family were utterly devastated - I just don't know how you recover from that. xX
Post a Comment