For Emily

Emily Buck and her husband Wes

Connor almost 3, and Caitlyn almost 1

Every summer we go to San Diego with my husband's family. His parents own a beach house on Mission Beach there. They rent it to students during the school year and vacationers during summer. Each year they have to come down and fix it up nicely for the vacationers and then remove all of the decor and stuff for the students. When they do go to San Diego to see their house, they stay for a week or two and invite the family. There is always a room for immediate family and that includes myself now. They invite their friends and their family to come too, if there is room. It's a pretty big house, so there is usually a lot of people around. The way they see it is, the more the merrier. 

Well, last summer Jason, Griffin and I went in August. I remember it well. Griffin and I drove down with my in-laws, my sister-in-law and my bro-in-law's girlfriend Kim. Jason flew down later that week. When  we got there, not too long after another group arrived. It was the Barham's. Jason's dad is good friends with Jeff Barham and they have been doing things together as families since Jason and his siblings were little kids. The summer before that they came down but it was Jeff and his daughter Sara and her son. Last summer it was Jeff, his son Robby, his daughter Emily (who technically is not a Barham anymore) and her two kids Connor who was 2 at the time and Caitlyn who was a newborn. I've heard a lot about the Barham's because of their closeness with the Golding's and so I was excited to finally meet them. They were so nice and welcoming! Robby and Emily are best buds and they were a lot of fun to be around. At the end of our trip, we exchanged numbers, email addresses, and Myspaces. I felt as though I had met someone who I could be friends with for a long time, even though we hardly ever saw each other, mainly talked over the internet and lived far away from each other (they live in Washington). 

Well, we haven't talked to each other in a while, but we were still Myspace buddies, so I check it out every now and again as Emily is always posting updated pictures of her brood. I went and checked it out on Monday and I noticed that Sara and Robby had both posted a bulletin that asked for prayers for Emily. I freaked out because I didn't know why. I text messaged my sister-in-law Jessica to see if she knew why, but she didn't answer. After doing some research, I found out that they had set up a website for Emily at carepages.com. I became a member and started reading her updates right away. Turns out she was in a bad car accident and was in critical condition in a coma. She bruised her spinal column, and got majorly beat up. Her lungs collapsed and they thought she might have some brain damage. There are signs that she will wake up though, as her eyelids twitch and her upper body moves in reaction to some pain. The next day Jessica finally text me back and told me what had happened. My jaw dropped. How could this have happened to someone who is so full of life?? I was devastated then and I still am. 

Emily has been married to her husband Wes for around 6 years now. She just turned 25. She has two children, Connor and Caitlyn who she lives for. She is very upbeat, smiling all the time, jokey and very nurturing. She was up bright and early every day in  San Diego making breakfast, and coffee and smoothies for anyone who was in the house. She is a great mom and a great friend. I am very saddened by all of this. Although I am not very close with the Barham's, it still is making me very depressed. If I am having a good day and laughing, I think to myself, how can I be so happy when I have friends that are so sad? Am I allowed to laugh and play? I know that Emily is fighting this with all her might, and I have high hopes that she will wake up and play with her beautiful kids again. But until then, I'm still in shock. I wish I could reach out to her family and let them know how much I care about what they are going through, but I know they are a little pre-occupied and I am a small bump in their friendship circle. However, I do care about them and Emily. She made me feel like she was actually listening to me, like I mattered and that I wasn't just some random person staying with her. 

Emily, I am praying for you and thinking of you often. If everyone could say a small prayer for Emily today, that would be wonderful. She would really appreciate it and so would I.