Roadside memorial

Throughout the afternoon and late into the night, a steady stream of vehicles traveled down our road, drawn to the accident site that had claimed the lives of three Fond du Lac teens Monday morning.

Whether they were drawn out of curiosity or the desire to pay homage, the reason for the pilgrimage was the same - the need for confirmation. As word of the triple fatality filtered through the halls of Fond du Lac High School and the community, the news was met with disbelief.

And as cars crawled by the scene, the splintered tree and makeshift memorial of flowers and pictures bearing the faces of the young victims served as painful testimonials that the worst had, indeed, happened along this rural byway.

The day before emergency workers and camera crews clogged the roadway, I had taken my young grandson for a walk. As we headed down towards the railroad tracks, we stopped by the grove of box elder trees lining the farm field near the road. High in the branches, sparrows flitted among the greenery, calling excitedly to one another.
This morning the tree is lying on its side, its branches silent and its trunk splintered from the impact of a car traveling too fast.

As the sun rose Monday morning, the spring day seemed so full of promise. No one should have to die on such a beautiful day, I told my son who had witnessed with a heavy heart, emergency workers tending to the victims at the scene.

As a mother with children of my own, my heart broke for the families whose worst nightmare had come true. Young lives, so full of promise had been cut short in an instant. And so they continue to come, to pay their last respects and to say goodbye to their friends and fellow classmates who should be sitting in class today, eagerly looking forward to the end of the school year and the lazy days of summer and beyond.