Isn't it crazy the things you remember?
I'm about four or five years younger than Judith, so I was around 7 or 8 years old when this happened.
It was picture day at the local schools that day, so Judith was all dressed up. Pressed and curled and pretty, but honestly Judith was such a pretty little thing that she would have looked lovely wearing blue jeans covered in mud. She had long dark hair and that type of milky white skin you read about in romance novels. Her smile could make you forget what you were about to say.
Judith was as sweet as she was pretty, and I will never forget her 12 year old self. I tended to idolize my older cousins back then and often wished I could be more like them.
I grew out of that, of course, but I digress.
Judith's brother, Steve was in high school at the time and had his driver's license, so he was driving himself and Judith to school that day when the wreck happened. If I am remembering correctly, I believe someone ran a stop sign directly in front of Steve's car, and there was nothing he could do but hit them.
Steve was not harmed. He hit the steering wheel hard enough to break it, but he was okay. Judith? Well, these were the days before seat belts were in cars. Judith's sweet face went through the windshield and one of her knees broke the dashboard.
The day I'm remembering, Mama took me with her to see Judith in the hospital. The wreck had happened that morning. I'm not sure why my younger sister wasn't with us, but I don't remember her being there. We arrived at the hospital in the afternoon. I'm thinking they took Judith to the Greenville, SC hospital. I had never been there before that day. Aunt Julia Mae, Judith's Mama, was crying. I don't think she stopped crying that whole day.
I was left alone in the waiting room for a very long time because I was too young to go upstairs in the hospital. A Top Cat re-run was playing on a television somewhere. I could hear the music:
Top Cat!
The most effectual Top Cat!
Who's intellectual close friends get to call him T.C.
Providing it's with dignity.
Top Cat!
The indisputable leader of the gang.
He's the boss, he's a pip, he's the championship.
He's the most tip top,
Top Cat.
Yes he's a chief, he's a king,
But above everything,
He's the most tip top,
Top Cat.
Top Cat!
After we left the hospital, Uncle Bob, my Mama's brother and Judith's Daddy, took us to see the car before we drove home. It was horrific. I was literally horrified. The steering wheel was broken in two, as I had been told, but I was not prepared for all the blood.
My sweet cousin's blood was all over the place, especially the windshield and the dash. Uncle Bob reached inside and took out one of Judith's bloody shoes. It must have come off during the wreck. He just looked at it with the most sad look on his face. No one really noticed me. Children were to be seen and not heard. But I felt just about like Uncle Bob's face looked that day.
Judith recovered. It took many years and a lot surgical procedures, but she has lived well into her 60s so far, with children and grandchildren and everything! They saved her leg and fixed her face and time moved on, but on the day in my memory that recovery was not a given. All we could do back then was pray...and pray...and pray...so that is what we did.
Not sure why I'm thinking about this today other than it reminds me to cherish each and every day I'm given. Life is a gift with an expiration date. Cherish your life. Cherish your children. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Enjoy these days you are living right now. They are fleeting and as changeable as the tides. Embrace the good and release the bad. The only thing that will matter in the end is how well you have loved and been loved in this life. Love is the only thing you can keep. Nothing else really matters.
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