Kevin D. Shippy

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            January 29, 2021——a day that I will never forget.

 

January 25 morning, I was doing something so ordinary, something I had done countless times before: helping my 26 year old son, Kevin get ready for a trip. He was going to Miami to spend time with friends and a girl. I washed and blow dried his hair, and for the first time, he asked me to take him to the airport. I didn’t know why that small request felt special, but it did. Maybe a mother’s heart senses things long before the mind understands them.We picked up one of his friends and drove to the airport together. I remember rushing inside to the ATM, wanting to make sure Kevin had enough money, one of those small, instinctive acts of care that mothers never stop doing, no matter how grown their children become. I kissed him, told him I loved him, and watched him walk away.

January 28, 2021:The day before he was supposed to come home, he FaceTime me from a restaurant. He looked happy. He told me we should get a place in Florida, and for a moment, I let myself imagine that future—sunlight,and warmth.                                         

Then came January 29, 2021.Around 3 a.m., the phone rang. They told me Kevin had been in a car accident. It didn’t make sense. Kevin wasn’t a reckless driver. He didn’t like speeding when he was driving. My mind refused to accept it. As a mother, hearing all of this shattered me. My first instinct was to get on a plane immediately, to be by his side, to hold his hand, to let him feel my presence. But because of COVID restrictions, the hospital told me no one was allowed in. That helplessness—knowing my child was lying in a cold hospital room without me—was a pain I would never forget. A kind of heartbreak that hurts.And yet, even in the grief, there is love—so much love. Love in the way I prepared him for his trip. Love in the way I ran to the ATM. Love in the kiss I gave him. Love in the last conversation we shared as we drove to the airport. Love in every memory that still lives inside me . My world changed in the blink of an eye.My only son—my 26 year old baby—was gone. Kevin was a passenger, simply going out to get food. The girl behind the wheel was speeding—110 miles per hour. The car rolled, struck a tree, and caught fire.Strangers—people from Springfield who happened to be behind them—pulled Kevin from the vehicle and I was told he had on his seatbelt. He was taken to the hospital, but hours later, he was pronounced dead. The impact had killed him. The driver walked away with burns. She was taken to a hospital in Miami, but she signed herself out of the hospital,

and fled back to Springfield.

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https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/02/05/man-killed-in-fiery-miami-crash-was-promising-actor-and-musician/

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pic.twitter.com/4lPYFdMUPI

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I had no idea that would be the last time I would ever see my son.

 

Kevin’s story didn’t end that night. It continues in me—in the way I speak his name, in the way I remember him, in the way my heart still carries LEGACY forward. In the way we can help other youth be aware of reckless driving.

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                                Love Kevin's mom

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                                                                                                           And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,

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-Romans 8:28

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