Open Letter To the Wife of The Man That Killed My Father

To the wife of the man that killed my father, This is such a touchy subject, I rarely speak of that day when my life forever changed. You see that day was like any other lazy Sunday morning. I stayed up late that night before tending to my then one year old son, watching movies and enjoying life.Then everything changed with just one phone call. A call from my aunt at 9 am, her voice was shaking and I could barley make out what she was saying. I heard "accident" and the words "hospital" and then "dead". I don't remember getting dressed or even leaving the house to go to the hospital. I only remember my loving fiance driving so erratically I thought we would get pulled over.I also remember thinking maybe if we did get pulled over that the officer would escort us to the hospital lights and sirens blaring. And maybe we would get there in time. I wish I could say I don't remember the rest of that day but every detail will remain with me forever. I could tell you everything that happened that day but I will spare you the details. You were also dealing with a tragedy that day, your husband was injured and responsible for a death and injuries of another. I did believe it was an accident,all accounts of the incident were that your husband lost control. An investigation also ruled it an accident. For months I believed this and truly thought this was the case, until I learned more details of that day.... -Someone came to the aid of the 3 stranded men and did NOT call for help. Even though help was literally around the corner. -Your husband begged this "aid" to tow him back to his dock. Knowing the men were severely injured and in need of immediate medical attention, they proceeded anyway. -Together your husband and this "aid" made the 20 minute ride to the location where they would finally call for help.... Your house. Still 5 years later I am unsure of the real reason the 20 minute trip happened instead of call for help at the scene of the accident. This I will wonder for the rest of my life, were there drugs on board, illegal fish?? I'll never know. To the point of this letter, I am sorry..... I am sorry that I felt liking suing was the only way to get justice for the death of my beloved father. My aim was never at you. It was your husband that I wanted to feel my pain. Your husband that deserved punishment for the role he took in his death. Not for the accident but for the poor choice he made not to call for help. I am not sure whether or not my father would have survived. I do not believe so. But maybe just maybe I could have said good bye holding his warm hand instead of cold. I am sorry that your husband never made it to see the lawsuit through. Your husband sadly passed away. I was and am truly sorry for your loss. I prayed for you after hearing of his passing some time after the accident. I thought long and hard whether to continue the lawsuit against your husband as I knew it would fall back on you. I needed that closure and needed to fight for my dad, so for myself I had to continue. I am sorry if this hurt you emotionally and financially. My dad was everything to me and there isn't a day that goes by I don't think of him. I wonder if my now 6 year old son would call him Grandpa, Pop-Pop, or just Pop. For now my son just knows he's in Heaven and has no memory of my father, which is really hard for me. I show him pictures of my dad and tell him lots of stories. It will be me teaching my son how to fish instead of his Grandfather. I couldn't wait for the day that my dad would sit on the pier and teach my son to fish, just as he'd shown me when I was a child. I will always keep my fathers memory alive for my son. I am still very sorry that you a wife, mother and mourner had to endure this along with my family and I. Thank you for sitting at that large table some 3 years later at the mediation our lawyers set up. You sat at the end of big oblong table silent and sad. I can only think you were sad because you were there, your husband was not and my father wasn't either. Before that day I pictured you sitting there your face smug and fighting every bit of the way. But that was not the case. Suing your husband did not help me in the way I thought it would. I felt so low for putting you, an innocent bystander through that. I hope that your life has somewhat recovered and again I am sorry for your loss. Sincerely, Grieving Daughter