In an instant

It's just a typical day. There's a ray of light, because a young woman living back at home with her family after being laid off has a job interview in Toronto. It's good news for the family of six people; all four of the adults had been without work until recently, when the son got a job.

The hardships had had an upside. The family was forced to mend some fences and re-establish their closeness again. A grandchild is on the way, too.

It's completely natural for the younger sisters, 17 and 15, to accompany their 26 year old sister on the long ride down to the city, offering up some moral support on the way. Nothing that all of them haven't done hundreds of times. Despite the age gap, the siblings are very close.

Suddenly, an SUV going too fast in the other direction loses control and flips over after hitting a snow bank. It slides into the opposite lane, directly in the path of the sisters' car....

And just like that, both drivers are dead and the teen girls are in the hospital.

Two families are mourning their dead. And the girls' parents are completely devastated, with their world turned inside out. The 17 year old is home now; she and her unborn child are OK. The 15 year old is still in serious condition with a shattered lower leg and after a bowel resection; she's been in surgery twice so far. So far, they haven't told her her beloved oldest sister is dead.

So quick and so unexpected.

I know this family. The youngest girl is my daughter's best friend and has been since kindergarten. When my kid still lived with her biological mother, the kid spent almost every weekend and school break that she wasn't with Bear and I at her friend's house. And she spent part of one summer at our house. It's surreal. My kid has a facebook wall post from her friend from a short time before the accident.

My heart bleeds for the parents. The oldest girl was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto while the younger girls were taken to Newmarket. The parents were on their way to Toronto when they got a call telling them to go to Newmarket instead; their oldest girl hadn't made it. I can't imagine facing that situation, having to decide which hospital to go to, and then realizing that it was too late.

So never let an opportunity to hug someone you love go by. It's too important to miss out on. Don't let the people you care about leave angry or hurt. Life can change in a flash.