Reading Response 3: Mistaken Identity

Now I am going to switch back to the Cerak family. Throughtout this chapter many things happen. It begins with the Whitney's mother and a family friend going to the hospital where all of the victims in the accident were located. The bodies were already identified, and Whitney's mother did not want to see their baby girl dead, so they avoided it. They went to the church service the next day along with thousands of other parents, students, and faculty members and it suddenly hit them. At the service they had a projection screen with the names of all those injured and dead. It was when Whitney's name flashed onto the screen that her mother realized that it was real.

"'They're praying for us. For me. For Newell. For Carly.' In that moment, she felt as though she could feel the prayers reaching up toward heaven and the arms of God physically reaching down to her in response. She closed her eyes, soaking it in."

After the service, the family heads out to pick Newell, Whitney's dad up from the airport in Indianapolis. They went to unpack everything out of Whitney's dorm room and her roomate gave her something Whitney made the day before as a reminder to serve God in everything she did. It was a small sign that said "Well done, good and faithful servent." This is ironic because, according to the Bible, these are the words with which Jesus will greet into heavven those who love him. Next they discussed when the funeral should take place. Colleen wanted it to be on the coming up Sunday, which Newell pointed out would be on Whitney's birthday. Colleen thought it was an even better idea to have it on her birthday because she knew Whitney always loved birthday parties. Colleen believed that it was only right to have one last huge party to celebrate her life, on her birthday. The family was riding home from Taylor University when this took place.

"This is our first sunset without Whitney."

I think these are both very important quotes from the passage. It shows how Colleen is thankful for all of the people praying for her and how she realizes that there are people who are there for her. The second quote is kind of a hard hitter. I started crying when I got to this part because it just builds up all these emotions, and then boom: you realize that it actually is real, it actually is happening and there is nothing you, or anyone else, can do about it.