A Path Forever Changed

When I was eleven years old my sister’s boyfriend and what I would call her soul mate was in a tragic boating accident that instantly killed him.  From what I can remember, they had a great relationship he and my sister, he came from a great family, was a star athlete, had aspirations, and brought the best and worst out in my sister.   I remember the night so clearly and even to this day when I replay that evening in my head it all happened in slow motion.  My dad was working the graveyard shift, my mother was helping set up for my cousins wedding and my older sister by almost 8 years was at my house babysitting me.  My sister called her boyfriend and left a message on his phone to come over.  It wasn’t 5 minutes later and my parents’ house phone rang, it was his father, her face went from pure joy and excitement to shock and dismay.  At that moment anyone who would have seen her would have known that what he was telling her was bad but when she handed the phone to me and he repeated what he had told her I didn’t know what to do.  By this point she was hysterical I don’t even know if it was safe for her to drive but that’s exactly what we did we drove straight to his parent’s house.   At the time I knew the loss I was feeling but it wasn’t until I became a wife to my soul mate and parent that the magnitude of that loss would make sense in a completely different manner.  I remember the celebrations of Brad’s life that took place everywhere from his high school to family.  I remember my sister after his death and knew she was never going to be the same, she was going to have to find her “new normal” and what I learned much later is that his death would change her path forever.  It would change her confidence, her drive and her dream.