| I lost my best friend Sonya on August 12th 2003. She was here visiting me and was going to help me with Paytons first birthday which was only 2 days away. She had gotten here on Tuesday the 5th of August. She had only been here an hour or so when she and my sister decided to go up the street for something to eat. About 30 minutes later I got a phone call from a woman at the scene. She told me my sister was in a car accident, she seemed okay, but Sonya was injured pretty badly. I got in my car and drove up the street never in a million years expecting too see what I did. My sister was pulled off to the side and someone was holding her head still. There were ambulances, firetrucks and cars everywhere. I ran over to Jessica and was crying. The lady saw me and told me I need to stay calm for my sisters sake because she had not seen Sonya yet. I had assumed Sonya was already in an ambulance as precaution, but when she said that, I turned to Sonya's car behind me and saw Sonya's lifeless body slumped over as the EMT's were working on her. I honestly felt like I was in a dream. I ended up riding in the ambulance with Jessica and my nephew to the hospital. Jessica ended up with a concussion and some bruising, but she and Isaac were okay. I continued to ask about Sonya, but no one could really tell me anything since we are not related. I tried to explain she was here visiting and to please tell me something. I think the Chaplain felt badly enough for the situation and told me as much as he could without getting himself in trouble. D.R. had at some point gotten ahold of Rob (Sonya's husband) and told him. He and his entire family left for South Carolina right away. When I finally spoke to Rob he had told me that her skull had been cracked. That is all I really knew until the next day. Sonya was in a coma. At the time I was told she had broken ribs, a broken collar bone, broken pelvis, the left side of her face had multiple broken bones and her skull was fractured in 4 places. She had severe brain injuries. For a week I watched Sonya's precious girls and niece as her family stood by her hospital bed day after day. They were never given much hope from the beginning but everyone continued to hang on because Sonya was such a strong person, and she was still here after 24 hours, which the doctors said with her injuries they had rarely seen that. On Saturday the 9th, Sonya's vitals began to fall even more severely, she never recovered. They couldn't stop the swelling in her brain. They did a final test to determine if there was any brain activity, and there wasn't. I kissed Sonya goodbye and I literally felt a big part of my life leave. I had always told Sonya I thought we were meant to be friends, because we met on two separate occasions. She was one friend who really knew everything about me. She knew my life story, ex's, family, quirks, and even my favorite movies. She was so completley happy for D.R. and I. She was even able to share the experience of watching Payton come into this world and therefore wanted to be there for her first birthday. She thought it was so amazing and we even joked about a few things that happened. I am forever grateful I got to share that experience with her. Sona was so much fun to be around. It didn't matter what kind of day I was having, she could always make me laugh. I could tell her anything and she never judged me, often times our stories seemed the same. She would get angry with me once in a while, but only in a big sister kind of way. I think often times she had gone thru exactly what I was going thru and was speaking from experience. Any topic was game with Sonya. It didn't matter what it was, you could talk and would usually end up rolling on the floor with laughter. I hold on to so many memories of her. Her smile, her laughter, her incessant desire to every hair in place. Even though she always looked perfect, she just never thought so. You could spend all day telling her how good it looked and she never thought so. :-) For some reason, she thought I was just hilarious. I could make her laugh so hard, and it always made me feel good to make her laugh. She would always say "Your So Crazy." It's funny how you miss little comments like that. I miss her telling me how crazy or stupid I was. I can't even begin to describe how much I miss her already. She loved her little girls so much. They were really her entire life. If anyone knows Sonya, the running joke with us was how she couldn't keep a job, and secretly, I think she couldn't stand being away from her babies. We were the same that way. We always said pretty soon there would be nowhere left in Virgina where we could get hired. She loved her husband dearly. Even if you had just met Rob and Sonya, you could tell how much they loved each other. They were a perfect match. Right before Sonya headed out that day with Jessica we had been talking about life in general. We were talking about the craziness in Rob and Sonya's relationship in the past and she looked right into my eyes, very matter of factly and said "Oh no, we are finished with all that." She was truly looking forward to getting home and getting a job so they could have more for the kids and just their life in general. I could tell by the look on her face she was determined to begin the next chapter of her life..it breaks my heart that she never got that chance. I don't understand how such a wonderful person can be taken just like that and so tragically. I never will. Everyone tells me Sonya was always saying how she thought of me as a sister. I sure hope she knew I felt the same. I always will. |
| AUGUST 5TH, 2003 |