I learned early this morning that my 16 year old cousin Adrienne, who lives in Cleveland, Texas, was killed last night in a head-on collision with a tanker truck. Apparently her boyfriend was driving the pickup they were in, and he somehow went over the center line into the path of the truck. The driver of the tanker tried to swerve, but failed, and they collided, flipping the pickup truck into a ditch and killing both my cousin Adrienne and her boyfriend. The tanker miraculously didn't explode, but both occupants of it were air lifted to a major hospital.

Her family in Texas is just completely in shock and overwhelmed with grief. I've talked to them several times today and also arranged for the flowers to be sent to the wake on Friday night. Several relatives from our area are planning a fast trip down for the funeral, including my sister and sister-in-law. My mom and dad aren't able to make the trip this time, and I'm staying here also.

It's just so sudden when something like this happens, there's no time to prepare or be ready to handle it. I've dealt with grieving people all day and done the best I can, and any prayers or good thoughts sent their way would be most welcome.

It just rams home how quickly a life, even one that young, can be snuffed out in just seconds. It seems to have really hit me hard, even though I didn't know her all that well, I grew up with her mother and grandmother as well as both her grandmother's sisters (one who is my age), and they are just devastated. It's tearing me apart inside that there is so little I can do. (sigh)

Anyway... just wanted to tell you all and ask for prayers to have the strength for myself and the family to cope with this sudden tragedy.

Thanks for your support,

Brenda

Thank you for your support, everyone.

I've been meaning to post something sooner, but my vacation with John just ended yesterday, (he had a few days off and we celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary on the 10th), and I guess I also feel somewhat overwhelmed by everything that went on last week with my cousin dying, some stress at church on Easter Sunday, and etc., so I haven't done much of anything online except read here and there.

But I wanted to get in here and post and let you all know how I'm doing. I did find my cousin's obit today and I posted that in the family group, and there is an article about the accident on the Internet as well, but that one I'm not posting on the family group as a courtesy to the family. If you want to see it though, you can go here:

[link|http://www.i-dineout.com/|http://www.i-dineout.com/]

It's titled "Two Young People Die In Tarkington Crash" And it's dated April 4th, 2007. Just scroll down the list of articles on the home page and you should find it. Be warned, the pickup truck looks really bad. :(

I also had been given several details wrong. It apparently was not a tanker truck, from the photos and article, and neither person who was driving the 18 wheeler died, so maybe they will be able to shed some light on what actually happened. They are also going to do an autopsy on my cousin's boyfriend to see if any other factors played a part in the crash. It appears now from all signs, that Adrienne's boyfriend was the one who drifted or crossed over the line into the path of the 18-wheeler, and the 18 wheeler made a valiant attempt to swerve out of the way, as evidenced by the tracks in the grass, which failed. Then after impacting the pickup and causing it to flip over and roll, the 18-wheeler wound up in the ditch on the side, with most of it's cab destroyed.

A group of family members from here and IL made the trip down to Texas for her funeral, and returned safely, saying it was one of the hardest ones they'd ever attended because she was so young. I can imagine. But I was sort of comforted to learn that pink, the color I had chosen for the main flowers I had sent down had been her favorite color, which was kind of nice since I had had no idea.

I think it will be harder now to deal with her loss, for the immediate family, and we are doing all we can to give them support at this time. I didn't know her all that well but I feel the deep grief of her mother, aunts and grandmother whom I grew up with. I've talked to them several times and they are pretty distraught.

Anyway, I just wanted to update you and thank you for all the support, even though I didn't post sooner, I did read them these past few days and that was comforting. Thanks. :)

Brenda