I received this email from a gentleman with whom I have collaborated on a safe teen driving project:
I am not a parent…and candidly—wondered if the book would hold my attention. I cannot recall the last time a book intrigued me to the point of not wanting to relinquish it from my grasp. I sincerely cannot stop thinking about the many deeply personal thoughts you shared in the book—and how some of them resonated with me.
When I was in high school in St. Louis, Missouri, our school’s softball team made it to the state semi-finals (October 19, 2001). Our school allowed all students to attend their game in Columbia, Missouri—during a normal school day, in an effort to cheer our classmates on to victory. My friend Shaun and I opted to make the trek to Columbia, with Shaun driving and I was in the passenger seat. Columbia is about two hundred miles west of St. Louis—on I-70. Approximately ten minutes before we were to our exit, traffic slowed to a halt. We learned there had been a car accident ahead…and shortly thereafter, we learned that it involved a car that was driven by one of my best friends—and that he and two of his three passengers (all classmates of ours) were killed. What began as an exciting, happy day—ended in terror and extreme sadness for our entire school. I share this, not to compare their deaths with Reid’s in any way—but to share that this is very much a personal thing for myself, as I learned about mortality through this experience.
