MORE NOTES FROM COMPANIONS ON THE JOURNEY
A NOTE FROM REGINA (Carla's
Cousin).....Well, here I am in Minnesota reliving those terrible days over 11
years ago. I say days because even though we felt pain, anger, sorrow for Carla,
Stann and Amber's loss we could go home to our families, to our children and hug
them and kiss them and love them. I deal with a lot of things through humor.
Sometimes it's appropriate and sometimes it is not. When my sisters and I went
to Colorado for Kevin's funeral we were able to laugh and that was good because
we sure did a lot of crying too. When I started singing "short'nin' bread" that
was my way of getting us, Carla, Ann and my sisters Laurene and Bunny
dealing with a different element, ME. It was a short escape but a good one. I
have many fond memories of our family vacations with Carla, Stann and their
family. My son, Matt, still carries pictures of him and Kevin from our last
vacation together in his wallet. This book brought back many sad memories but it
also shed some light on things that I could only imagine, and, in reading this
book you can feel the pain and anguish that this family goes through. But you
can also see how Carla uses her dreams, her family's love and the love of her
friends to move on.
Not all of us can even begin to comprehend the loss of a child nor do we all
dream with such great depth as Carla but reading this book will give all of us a
greater understanding of all kinds of emotions. You will be taken to the very
soul of sorrow so that the next time when a tragedy happens and you tell that
person how sorry you are they are not just words but real, deep feelings of
compassion. Compassion is something we all must have.
With great love of Carla, Stann, Amber, Megan and Jason and of course always
Kevin.
Regina Aiken
Minnetonka, Minnesota