A MEMORIAL INSTEAD OF A WEDDING

in the months leading up to the wedding
Joanne and ran to her, and she said, "He didn't make it." I just fell to my knees right there—I couldn't stand up. And I couldn't cry or diink. I remember my bridesmaids all around me, hugging and holding me.
The doctor asked if anyone wanted to see Chris, and I said I did—in a weird way, it felt like I had to see that lie was okay, even though lie wasn't. I needed to touch him. They took me to him, and except for a bandage around his head, he looked perfect (he had died of head trauma). I lay down with him oil die hospital bed, and a chaplain came and held me.
A MEMORIAL INSTEAD OF A WEDDING
The two groomsmen who had been with him, Chad and Tommy, told me what had happened: Chad had been driving the three of them to get breakfast at about 7:30 a.m.; Chris was in the backseat. They were blind-sided at an intersection—a driver rail a red light, and Chris was thrown out of the car through die side window. Doctors said he was killed instantly. Chad and Tommy were Chris's two closest friends, and though it's terrible