When a loss of life is experienced in our community, the waves of grief are wide and deep. This [was] felt by many of us recently at the loss of Kim Horton, whose life was tragically taken in a car accident.
It seems that every year or so, there’s a terrible tragedy in our community that results in an outcome beyond what most of us can imagine: the loss of a child. There could be no loss more heartbreaking. I’d only met Kim once, and briefly, in Greenlife Grocery, when I was with my daughter. I remember Kim showed us her tattoo of a lovely bird, a swift or a swallow, and told us the accompanying story of the bird.
If I’d never met her at all, I would have still felt stung by her loss, because I, too, am a parent, and as such, I, too, grieve when one of our children is taken too young and too soon. My heart goes out to the Horton family and to all families in our community who’ve had to experience such dreadful grief. My hope is that, while nothing can assuage the pain, the community that shares in this loss may help to be a container for your grief. We all—as parents, children and community members—share your loss.
— Virginia Bower
Asheville
