Our family greatly appreciates the tender loving care shown to us from the first moment the terrible news of our truck crash became known even through these moments of facing the memories afresh.
I am grateful to not be going through it alone and although members of our family don’t all write about it as much as me (or at all), I know that we are in this together.
I wanted to share some of the things which they have written during this last week:
On May 4, Rebekah wrote, “2 years ago today, 17 year old AnnaLeah Karth was killed due to injuries sustained in a collision in which the car she was riding was hit once by a semi that veered into the next lane where the car was causing the car to be spun around, then hit again and pushed underneath a second semi.
She had talked about possibly studying medieval history at the college level, and she loved to write. Instead of introducing her to some of my medievalist friends from college like I had planned, we dealt with the aftermath of her death.”
Photos she shared: 
On May 8, Rebekah wrote, “Two years ago today, Mary Lydia Karth died at the age of 13. Her death was due to severe injuries from a collision involving two semi trucks.
For many other people, however, it was a day of hope, because she was matched with 50 people needing bone marrow, in addition to her corneas being matched as well. 13 years isn’t very long, but that is an amazing impact and legacy to leave behind: the gift of life and the gift of sight.
It doesn’t take away our pain, but I am comforted that there are several other families who received the gift of extra time with their loved ones.
http://www.organdonor.gov/whydonate/index.html ”
Photo of Mary shared by Rebekah: 
On May 8, Naomi wrote, “I used to nanny for a little boy who said the sky was “crying” whenever it rained. So it seems pretty appropriate that today, on the two year mark of Mary joining her sister in heaven, that it is pouring out right now.
It’s still so hard to put in words… This feeling. Loss, pain, grief. We miss her. We miss AnnaLeah. So much so that we still can’t talk about the wreck without needing to cry.
It isn’t fair, but I’m so grateful for the precious years we did have- and how Sam’s sisters became my sisters too.
Sam confessed recently that part of his attraction to me was how playful and silly I could be. Much like his Mary, who was his best friend. We will cherish these times most of all, the memories of the impossibly silly* things we did. How we could laugh. How we could try to make anything fun or a game.
And we will remember. And cry. And keep on going.”
Photo shared by Naomi: 
On May 5, 2015, Danelle wrote, “May 4th went by as just another ordinary day, but the pain in our hearts is still there. Loved, Missed, and Never forgotten. AnnaLeah Karth, May 15, 1995 to May 4, 2013.”
Photo shared by Danelle:
On May 8, Danelle shared, “My mind is a buzz of thoughts. I have so many things I want to share and I am not quite sure how to keep it brief. On the one hand I want to talk about how grateful I am to be a part of this family and how much it means to me to know each one of my in-laws.
On the other hand I want to share with everyone the wonderful silliness* that Mary shared with everyone that she met. Or how I know my daughter was too young to really remember her, but how I can see some of her silliness rubbed off on her niece as she was such a big part of her early years.
I will forever remember the joyful little girl and the wonderful young woman she had become. I am grateful for the 8 years that I was blessed to know her and the love that she poured into my children. Loved, Missed, and Never forgotten. Mary Lydia Karth. August 6, 1999 to May 8, 2013.”
Photos shared by Danelle: 
* Silly Mary. . . with all this talk of silly Mary, here are some glimpses of her fun-loving self, her infectious joie de vivre:
And so, with hope, we carry on. . .
