Some Good News for my Family

I'm sure my regular readers will remember the post, exactly two months ago, about the death of my cousin. Her death has affected me greatly, and I can only imagine what her immediate family has gone through these past two months. I get updates from another aunt via my mom and it is difficult to hear about some of their struggles. At the same time, they are doing as well as can be expected.

One thing that hit them (and the rest of us) hard recently was the release of the police report from the accident. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say that I know her death was not instantaneous, and her last moments on earth were likely horrifying for her. At some point, she must have known she was going to die. I cannot imagine what goes through a person's mind at that moment. I have heard stories of people being revived after dying saying that they had angels with them. In fact, my grandmother told us her hospital room was filled with angels in her final moments. Some would say it is hallucinations, but I prefer to believe it is real. I can only hope that Carrie's guardian angel was holding her in her last moments, comforting her.

Ok...the title of this post suggested something happy...sorry, let me get to that. Another thing weighing heavily on their minds for the past two months was the custody of Carrie's daughter "B". B and Carrie had always lived with Carrie's mom and dad. B's father has been around, but not much and is pretty irresponsible. My aunt and uncle knew that if B's father wanted custody, all he had to do was say the word. Legally, they didn't have much of a leg to stand on to keep B if her father wanted to take care of her. They know he is ill-equipped to care for a three-year-old, emotionally or financially. They were seeking legal and physical custody and I feared that it was completely unrealistic, legally speaking. They offered to take care of B and ask for nothing in return from the father, financially speaking, and allow him any visitation he wanted.

Yesterday, he signed papers agreeing to that. B will get to stay with the only family and home she has ever known, close to her mommy's memory where she belongs. For now. I don't know the details of how long this agreement lasts. But she needs to be there for now. It is not unrealistic to think that the father could grow up, get his life together, maybe even start a family with someone else, and want to be a bigger part of B's life. I think that would probably be a good thing, even though my aunt would prefer he just disappear. But for now, I think things are as they should be, and there is one less thing to worry about. I know this has been consuming their thoughts, and I hope that now with this out of the way they can begin their healing process.