Brooklyn Cmerek
Staff writer
As a student reporter, I am told to cover news. My brain keeps telling me to do what’s expected, but my heart tells me to share the story of a recent occurrence that has affected my life more than I can explain.
I received a call early on March 24. “Katie’s been in a really bad car accident. Everything is okay, but she’s in pretty bad shape,” Sunde Horton, my roommate and best friend’s mother, said.
Her liver was lacerated; it was hemorrhaging. Her spine was fractured. Part of her lung was collapsed. All of these injuries occurred as she rolled a vehicle two and a half rounds and flew through the windshield. She could have died. She should have died.
The first day she was in the hospital, I was okay. I visited her and was fine. But then I went home, home alone to an empty apartment. I could not sleep. I kept thinking that my roommate wasn’t just at work or at Wal-Mart; she was in the hospital. The next day during my visit, I broke down. I could hardly sit and look at the pain she was feeling without part of me wishing that it was myself in her place.
It is funny how much the thought of losing someone forever can change your perspective on life all around. Katie is a person whom I love to death, but sometimes would take for granted. After her accident, I realized how much she really means to me. I have realized how short life is. At any moment, it can be taken right away at the blink of an eye. Tell the people you love that you love them. Take chances. See the beauty in the world. Find what makes you happy and stick with it.
Don’t wait for tomorrow to do what you can do or say what you should do today. Because tomorrow, your loved one might be gone. That chance might be taken right along with the breath right out of your chest and the ability to see. Find happiness in every day because tomorrow might not come.