Our street leads to Bryant Lane, which is two houses away. If you cross Bryant Lane you go into a little group of 12 new McMansions, which were sold and are selling for $700,000 each. That is outlandish. The builders finished up with the houses this past spring and have sold all but one or two.
Bryant Lane is a long street. If you go south on Bryant Lane for ½ mile you will be at a traffic light of Sandy Plains Road. If you go north on Bryant from our street one mile up is the intersection of Shallowford Road.
In the early spring, on a Tuesday evening I was getting ready to go to a genealogy meeting. I ate my dinner early and heard and felt the vibrations of a helicopter. As I was getting ready I had the 5 O’clock news on. On TV was a helicopter view of Bryant Lane, I recognized it instantly because of certain houses and side streets and the cluster of the bunch of new McMansions.
What happened was near the Shallowford Road end, a teenage girl had pulled out of a side street from her subdivision and an oncoming dump truck hit her car and she was pushed to the side. She was killed instantly. She was a high school senior, I think 17 years old. She couldn’t have had the driving experience to know what she could or couldn’t do.
She driver of the dump truck was not charged. She simply pulled out in front of him, and going down a steep hill of Bryant Lane he couldn’t stop. It was not his fault. He was carrying a load of topsoil or something to one of the McMansions a block from our house.
Later on the news and in the paper I learned that she was a cheerleader, female athlete, and in general one of the popular students at the local county high school.
I do not know but I think her parents live in the subdivision she was pulling out of onto Bryant Lane. And I think they now constantly watch over her road side shrine and keep it decorated in things they think she would enjoy.
I remember on the days around the 4th of July the little graveless plot was decorated in several little plastic red, white, and blue sparkling windmills. She had more than one medal hanging on the cross.
When it rains they cover the whole shrine with a clear plastic covering.
There are two streets that lead out of the subdivision. One is directly on the opposite end of the subdivision. I would think her parents choose the one she was killed at each time they come and go.
This is so sad for the parents to have to see this every day, but I think it gives them a form of continued closure.
Wow...that's so sad, Ed. I think that's probably the one thing I could never get over. Makes me anxious about my own son starting to drive.
ReplyDeleteBird,
ReplyDeleteWhen my two started driving and coming in late at night - it was hell - until we knew they were home safe.
We trusted them but just not the other drivers.
I am reminded of Bird's friend Martin and many other youngster who die in those kinds of accidents.
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteOn the side of the road like these death crosses are, are side reminders that we need to be more careful.
How sad. We had a 16 yr. old boy from our neighborhood get killed on his way to school about 10 years ago. I thought his parents would move from here, in order not to have to cross everyday the intersection where he died, but they are still here. I don't think I could do it.
ReplyDeleteJudy,
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I would feel or what I would do. In a way, you are keeping close to your loved one if you see often where the child met his/her fate and of course, the cemetery would probably be close by also.
To have a closure adn move on or keep the departed part of your life - I don't know.
Sometimes I wonder if it is harder for people in the long run when they maintain these types of shrines because it seems like they can't move on with the grieving process. It's unfortunate for everyone. I also feel bad for the truck driver.
ReplyDeleteYes, I really feel for the families that had to go throught that and the shrine is like a Shrine that keeps on mourning.
ReplyDelete