I join those who mourn the passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter GiGi. Tragic. Heartbreaking. Unthinkable. The pain and suffering his wife, her mother, must be feeling. The hardship of their living children. Navigating life without a parent is so, so hard. Navigating life without a partner is numbing. Living longer than your child is one of the most challenging and painful griefs anyone can suffer. Navigating a world full of a perceived completeness everywhere you look, is crushing. My heart goes out to them all as they walk in shock and disbelief in these first hours, days, weeks.
I have learned that in that crash 7 people have passed away. Seven. One moment in time, seven lives ended and many, many lives changed forever. (See update below) This level of tragedy is what I thought of when people told me my story was the worst. It was the unthinkable, it felt like the worst, but I knew even that first day that I had many things to be grateful for. There is no comparison in loss. We will all feel completely gutted no matter how many or how sudden our losses, yet this accident will reach broader than many.
According to reports in the USA Today there was also a baseball coach, John Altobelli, and his wife Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, on that helicopter. Three members of a family, gone all at once. That same report said there was a girl’s basketball coach, and mother of three, Christina Mauser, on the helicopter. Her husband and three kids mourn that loss immensely as they look toward a life without mom.
These wounds are deep and raw for those of us who know them, but even for those who have not experienced close loss, this kind of tragedy makes you hold a little tighter to everyone you hold dear. This life is precious. This is not a drill! It is short, it is uncertain, and it is meant to be lived. In the spirit of living, I say let this moment be a moment that propels you into living fully and not living fearfully. There is no end to death in sight. We will not know that peace until we have gone home to our Father, but there is hope in the suffering and there will be peace in our pain.
Pray for these families and their friends as they navigate what life after tragic loss looks like. It is a hard, broken, and bumpy road. They will need all the lifting up they can get. Pray that God gives them comfort in their deepest darkness. Pray that God places good resources and people in their lives as they heal. Pray that this draws them closer to Him and His hope, and His peace.
Click here to read the article in USA Today where I learned the names and stories of the other victims.
Update: In the short time since publishing this I have learned there were nine deaths in this crash, including the pilot, Ara Zonayan. Also a mother and daughter, Sarah and Payton Chester, friends of the Bryant family. Click here for the link to The New York Times article with this updated information.
The Middle Most by Jill Veltkamp 