As she drove home, she had tears rolling down her eyes, recalling what her sister told her a few hours ago.  Kay was at work, when her sister called with the news that would change Kay in ways she couldn’t understand.  Amelia never called her while she was at work; normally, she would text Kay to give her random information or ask her to come over after she was done for the day.  These days, however, weren’t normal, not after that fateful day almost 2 years ago.  Amelia’s daughter was driving home from college for Spring break when Amelia would get the call that would change her life forever.  Ava was Amelia’s only child from a broken marriage just after it started. Amelia had said the only good thing that came out her relationship with Vince was Ava. Vince and Amelia met in college, at a party and hit it off. They were inseparable for 6 months until Ava told him she missed her period; that was the last she saw of Vince until the baby arrived. Well, not literally; he was still at the local college, but he made himself invisible to Amelia for the next 7 months.  After Ava was born, Vince came by to visit and had a change of heart. He asked Amelia to marry him with promises of a life that she would never regret. Amelia wished that she wouldn’t have believed him, but her soft nature couldn’t turn him away. They married a month later and divorced just four months after the ceremony.  Vince said it was just too much too soon; he couldn’t be tied down at 22 years of age, so he left Amelia and Ava alone. He sent checks once in a while, mostly out of guilt. He only visited Ava 4 times in her entire 21 years.

Ava had gone into computer science; she was a natural at programming and wanted to work for one of the big tech companies.  Amelia was her biggest fan and always believed she could do whatever she wanted.  Unfortunately, Ava made the same mistake as her mom, and had a child after a brief relationship with a college sweetheart.  Ava and Sam hooked up their freshman year and didn’t bother to think about the consequences of their passionate night together.  Savanna was born while Ava was entering her sophomore year in college. Amelia didn’t want Ava to lose out on her college education, so she encouraged her to continue on while she raised Savanna. Sam agreed to help Savanna, but he wasn’t prepared to quit his dream of being an attorney, so he kissed Ava as he left for his trip to Harvard, and barely looked back. He continued to send small checks and write letters for Savanna to read when she was older. Surprisingly, Ava wasn’t angry; she understood what Sam wanted to accomplish and she believed that he would come through for his daughter in the end.

  Ava was an amazing mom during her breaks; she couldn’t stand to be apart from her baby girl, and she planned to raise Savanna after college.  Amelia knew her daughter well, she knew Ava would do whatever she needed to do to make a good life for Savanna. That’s why the rug of her life was pulled from underneath her on the day of “the call”. Amelia had been putting groceries away while Savanna was in her rocking swing. As was the routine, Amelia sang a song by Cheap Trick called Surrender. She knew it was weird, but she grew up listening to them when she was young and for some reason, the lyrics of “Mommy’s alright, daddy’s alright, they just seem a little weird, surrender, surrender, but don’t give yourself away….” was what stuck with her after Ava drove off for college, leaving her baby girl behind, with tears in her eyes. 

Amelia was putting the last of the vegetables in the crisper when her cell phone rang.  She let it ring twice before looking at it. When she finally picked up her phone, she saw the name of the local hospital on it, Mercy West.  She thought it odd that they would be calling and thought it was a wrong number, but she answered it anyway.  “Is this Amelia Greer”, the caller asked.  “Yes, who is this”, Amelia asked with butterflies in her stomach. She was feeling sick and couldn’t figure out what her apprehension was about.  “This is Felicia Moore, the Nurse Supervisor at Mercy West, your daughter has been involved in an accident.”  Amelia almost threw up without knowing why; for all she knew, Ava was in the ER with a broken wrist and complaining to come home. Amelia remembered, in a flash, all the different times Ava cried about having to go to the doctor’s office; she hated it. Ava didn’t like to be examined whether it was by the dentist or school shots, or any kind of vaccine; she would scream and protest that she didn’t need to go to the doctor.  Amelia chuckled at the memory with a tear running down her cheek and not knowing why she was crying. All of this happened in less than a second before the nurse told Amelia that she needed to come to the hospital.  Amelia asked if her daughter was alright. She asked several times before the nurse finally told her that Ava was deceased. Amelia ran to the sink and threw up; she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move, she could barely hear that Savanna was crying for her in her swing.

Amelia called Kay that night, before going to the hospital in barely audible words to explain what happened. Apparently, a driver crossed the median on a two-lane highway and ran into Savanna. There was no other news, of course, but Amelia wanted Kay to know.   Kay lived two states away and told Amelia she would be there as soon as she could, but Amelia assured her that she would be fine for tonight.  Amelia had called her best friend, Brooke, to stay with Savanna while she went to the hospital; Kay was already calling her boss to plan for the next several days of working on the road.

Two years later, Kay couldn’t believe all that had happened. The driver had been texting while driving and ran off of the median, unable to control his car.  Ava had seen the car coming but at sixty miles an hour, she was unable to avoid the crash. She was hit head on and killed instantly, leaving a life of dreams, a daughter, and a mother who cheered her on her entire life, behind. The driver survived, with minimal injuries and had been sentenced for reckless driving, but the case had gone on for way too long, in Amelia’s eyes. Savanna was now four years old and didn’t even have memories of her mom. Amelia had so many memories and so many dreams for her daughter; she was sick with anger, frustration, guilt, and sorrow. Sam came to the funeral, met Savanna, kissed her with tears in his eyes, but tried to explain that he couldn’t stay.  Apparently, he had met someone else and started a new life as he was working his way into a new firm.  He promised to help with the case to get everything that Savanna would need for a comfortable life.  Amelia didn’t care about the money; she just wanted Ava back.

The hearing finally came to be, and Amelia was in the courtroom to listen to the sentencing. The driver decided to plead guilty to the charges of reckless manslaughter and take his prison sentence. He looked somber and regretful as Amelia sat in the courtroom. The judge asked if anyone would like to have words. Amelia stood up, shaking uncontrollably, and walked up to the young man. His name was Kyle, but she hated to think of him as having a name because she was angry and fighting her anger for so long. She had prayed for God to help her forgive as she should, but she didn’t believe it was possible. As she approached the monster who took her daughter and her granddaughter’s mom, she wasn’t sure what she would say. What came out surprised her; she looked him in the eyes, with tears flowing down her own and said, “I forgive you”.  Kyle looked at her like she was an alien, not believing what he heard. Amelia could barely believe it herself, but she was tired of the poison inside of her that harbored all of the anger. She had prayed for so long to let this go, and let God do a good work in her.  She told Kyle that she was angry at his carelessness, but she forgave him for the act. Kyle broke down.  Amelia simply got up, walked out of the courthouse, and proceeded to walk home. She took her phone out of her purse to make a call.

“Hello, Amelia”, said Kay as she was finishing an email at work.  “I forgave him” replied her sister.  “What do you mean”, asked Kay.  Amelia went through the details of the hearing and how she could have yelled at the man who killed her daughter, how she could have berated him, and how she could have poured out more venom than she ever imagined.  In the end, Amelia chose to tell Kyle what he left behind; a daughter without a mother and a mother without a daughter, but she also chose to tell him that she forgave him.  She saw something in his eyes that told her it was the right thing to do and that she actually did forgive him.  Kay was crying and she couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was the hurt of the last two years. Maybe it was the lost dreams of her niece that would never be realized. Maybe it was the mom that Savanna would never know.  There were so many scenarios that ran through Kay’s head, but she knew one thing, for sure; Amelia chose to move on and forgive. Amelia chose to let go of the rock of hatred and anger that could have paralyzed her and Savanna. Amelia chose to move forward with Savanna by her side and not let bitterness take control.  Amelia chose to forgive as she was forgiven for her sins.

Kay had always felt her sister’s emotions. The two were close in age and Kay always looked to her older sister for guidance. When Amelia was lonely in high school, Kay could feel it. When Amelia was hurt by her relationship with Vince, Kay could feel it. When Ava was killed in the accident, Kay felt like part of her own body was taken away. It was hard to describe, but Kay always felt Amelia’s emotions, and after the phone call that Amelia made, Kay was shaking; she couldn’t concentrate, imagining how it must have been for Amelia. Kay was proud, sad, angry, and ready to forgive all at the same time. She smiled as she drove home from work thinking about Savanna’s life ahead.  Kay knew Amelia was going to make it the best she could for her granddaughter, and she was determined to be the best support she could be.