Hold your loved ones extra tight tonight; this week a family in Athens, Georgia lost a father to a tragic accident. Christopher Tyler Evans was taking his sons to see Santa. His wife, Sabrina, was driving the family when another driver crashed into their car. Sabrina and her sons weren't seriously hurt, but Christopher was killed. It was their wedding anniversary.
It's just incredibly sad. The Evans' children were just 5 and 7 years old. They were also looking forward to celebrating their birthdays on the 21st and 23rd of December. December was supposed to be an exciting month filled with important milestones for this family. But this Christmas will be a painful one for the Evans family.
Will this ruin Christmas for the Evans brothers? That must be a question on Sabrina's mind right now. She's just lost the love of her life, which is awful enough for her. But now she has to shepherd two heartbroken little boys through this tragedy. They lost their father. How do you even begin helping your child to heal from that rift when you're in terrible pain yourself?
Not only that, the memory of the car crash that robbed them will always be tangled with memories of Santa and the holidays. So Sabrina has an almost inhuman task as a mother: Cope with this year's holiday, help her sons recover from their loss, and find a way to mark Christmastime in future years that celebrates the memory of Christopher while still respecting the pain the family feels at his absence.
Sabrina and her boys still have each other. And I hope they're surrounded by family and loved ones who can give them the support they need right now. My heart breaks for them.
How would you cope if you suffered a loss like this, especially around the holidays?
Image via popofatticus/Flickr
