“The seemingly nice fella told a fib to the reporting officer. I quickly corrected that nonsense. I’m not mad at him, just peeved he lied to begin with. He seemed distressed and kept apologizing, thanked me and drove off. Then guess who carried the guilt home? I did.”
‘I got rear-ended today. He said he didn’t see us. Am I frustrated? Absolutely.’: Mom says she’s the one who left an accident feeling ‘guilt’ despite it being other man’s fault
‘I am OVER IT. I spotted your car swerving. I could see your sweet kids strapped into car seats in the back.’: Mom’s desperate plea to put your phones down while driving
“Texting away driving 55 mph on the highway with your babies on board. I was close enough for you to swerve into me. My babies were on board too, and my blood just boiled.”
‘It was exactly 4:00 p.m. There were no other cars around me for about a mile. I noticed the truck turning left and wasn’t slowing down to turn. In fact, he was speeding up. This was it. I knew I was going to hit him.’
“That day I felt a strong feeling that I needed to put my seatbelt on in her driveway. I thought it was a little bit odd, because I usually didn’t put my seatbelt on until I was leaving her neighborhood, but I put it on right then.”
‘I blacked out. ‘I’ve died, haven’t I?’ I couldn’t see anything but bright white light. I lifted my head. My airbag had deployed. You weren’t beside me anymore.’
“I lost control of my car. You stopped to help me. I felt safer as you stood by my driver’s side window. That changed. In a split second, I saw your smile turn to concern as a semi came over the hill.”
‘She was at a dead stop in traffic. She looked in her rear-view mirror and saw a car coming full speed behind her. She braced herself.’
“When he finally looked up from his phone, it was too late. I’m sure the message is clear here.”
‘Keeley?,’ you whispered. I peeked back in. You were grinning that huge grin. ‘I love you, Keebee.’ I’m not happy to admit I got annoyed. Now, I think you were just preparing me.’
“I remember my mom on the phone telling me to ‘Get out, get out. Close your eyes, don’t look’. You knew I was coming home first that day. You knew.”
‘I ‘push the button’ and throw the car into reverse. Something was wrong. Everything started locking up on me. I push the brake and that’s locked, too! What. The Heck.’
“I knew this van was a push-start because it was one of the first things I said when I test drove it. ‘Ooooh this is so boujee!,’ I even told the sales man. You literally just push a button! It’s OBVIOUSLY not that hard.”
‘He guided us through the storm. The water was over the road. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. Stopping would put us in a more dangerous position.’
“It was so bad I could see only his brake lights at one point. We noticed the truck moving over to the left and I asked my husband, ‘Do you think he is pushing the excess water off the road for us?’ The driver of this truck restored my faith.”
‘Me? A minivan? I’m so young! I’m hip! This is madness. While I hated myself every minute of that test drive, I HAD NEVER FELT SO ALIVE!’
“There is SECRET STORAGE SPACE underneath these very FLOORBOARDS!? Don’t even get me started on those sliding doors, y’all. I PRESS A BUTTON AND THEY OPEN. It’s witchcraft! Witchcraft, I tell you!”
‘Before the trooper could tell me the cause of the crash, I asked if my son was texting while driving. His response was, ‘Yes ma’am.’
“Thomas was always one to lend a hand to anyone in need. On February 12, that’s exactly what he was doing. I wanted to know what text was so important it had taken my son away from everyone who loved him.”
