Anniversary

Today is the 9 year anniversary of the death of my uncle and grandmother...December 23rd, 2000, they were on the way home from my Uncle's office Christmas party and were struck from behind on Buck Lake Rd by a teenager driving over 90 miles per hour in a sports car. They were killed instantly, the car in flames, my grandmother thrown from the vehicle and the scene and wreck were horrendous! It was an awful time for my family. I was the first to know. Somehow the FDLE officer could not locate my mom and found me instead. I was at home by myself at 2 am in the morning when I heard knocking at my door. Of course, with John working night shift, this scared me to death. To make a very long story short, the officer told me....called John on his cell phone at work for me...drove me to my parent's house to tell them and so on....We remember this every year and will always remember it but the horror of how they were killed has I guess dulled some. Dulled so much to the fact that I have forgiven Austin Jewell. Austin waits on me at Starbucks on Thomasville rd and Kerry Forrest on a weekly basis. He has no idea who I am, although I sometimes wonder if I look familiar to him...from the courtroom during his sentencing and hearing. He is courteous. He knows his coffee. He is a manager there. Very ironic...I have never felt the need to tell him who I am....or ask if he knows the names Ruth and Raymond Revell. I have wondered if he is a Christian, if he struggles with the memory, if he wishes he could take it back. I really do believe that he is sorry. I have been thinking about Roosh and Raymond a lot lately. The whole Bobby Bowden/FSU stuff has made me think of my Uncle Raymond. I bet he would have just been sick with their losses, the way Bobby Bowden is leaving and I think the rest of the family would have definitely tried to send him to the Gator Bowl....He LOVED FSU football! I think of my grandmother everytime I cook. She was, without a doubt, the best cook I have ever known. Tonight I made pork chops...ROOSH STYLE..for the family and I thought of her as I smelled them in the oven. I really wish they could have met my children. Raymond loved kids and loved being silly and goofy with them. Roosh would have played patty cake with Molly. They would have been at every event for my kids that they could...although if Roosh was still living, she would have just turned 100 this year. It makes me smile to think that she was out at 9 pm at night going to a Christmas party at the ripe old age of 91 just before she passed. I have some of the greatest memories of those two...ones that I cherish and hold on to....ones that make me smile with the smell of pork chops and the mention of Florida State Football!