I’ll See You Again is a book that will resonate with any person, male or female, with or without kids. A family is pulled into darkness at the awful and sudden loss of their three daughters in a car accident and the parents Jackie and Warren have to come to terms with a house filled with silence instead of chattering, banter and laughter.
One summer day in July 2009 the three girls, Emma – 8, Alyson – 7 and Katie – 5 are off for the weekend to go camping with their Aunt Diane (Warren’s sister) and Uncle Danny. Jackie was a little worried before the trip as she hated being away from her girls but she also realised that this time with their Aunt was special too, and that their Aunt loved spending time with the girls. Diane was late to pick them up from their home which worried Jackie but they are soon on their way. The girls speak to their mum over the weekend and Jackie hears what a fantastic time they are having.
Come Sunday, Diane is late bringing the girls home and after many phone calls, the devastating news was discovered – Diane had drove down the wrong way of a parkway and crashed headlong into an SUV, killing herself, her daughter, three men in the other car and Jackie and Warren’s three girls. It was discovered later that Diane was drunk, and had marijuana in her blood. Diane’s son was the only survivor.
Katie did initially survive the accident but died at hospital. Maybe she wanted to go with her sisters, Jackie thought. We will never know the true story of what happened on the way home from camp that day.
This book tells you the true story of how life unfolded for this family, the arguments, the devastation, the pain and the need to be reunited with her girls. Jackie speaks of her love for her girls often. She’s a real mum, you know those mum’s who do everything for their children and pull heaven and earth to bring the kids up with love and encouragement.
Jackie’s life was shattered, she fell to pieces, literally, and at one point found she was not focusing on schools, graduation, trips and camps like she should have been but instead Warren and Jackie were competing with a cemetery. It is impossible to buy a grave in the Holy Rood cemetery, but they’d managed to find a plot for the girls and for Diane. A grave next to their girls was extremely distressing when the blood test results came in for Diane but Jackie eventually found a way to forgive.
Jackie viewed the girls in their coffins on the day of the funeral and saw they looked normal, nothing to indicate what they’d been through. At the wake Jackie felt like the macabre hostess of the worst party in the world.
Reading about the AMAZING support from old and new friends in the neighbourhood was touching, friends who cooked food and provided for Jackie and Warren, camped overnight at their place and made sure they were looked after and listened too. Jackie and Warren experienced some nights of happiness but this just made Jackie feel guilty. They also received further support around the difficult anniversaries and in time guiding Jackie though her fourth pregnancy 19 months after the accident.
I feel like I’ve been through the ordeal, I’ll never forget what I’ve read. The one thing that isn’t mentioned is that Diane’s husband, Danny, doesn’t seem to be really questioned about Diane’s drinking or what she was like over the weekend they were all camping, here I felt like something was missing to fill in the jigsaw.
http://www.hancefamilyfoundation.org/
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