5:02 PM Thu, Sep 27, 2007 | Permalink
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It amazes me sometimes just how willing people are to open up their lives to reporters. Don't get me wrong, as a reporter I want people to talk to me....I need them to. However, there are times when the burden someone is bearing is just so great that I can't imagine they have the strength to talk about it. Selina Burgess is one of those people. A 3 vehicle crash at Kingshighway and McRee left Selina's 29 year old daughter Tawanda, 27 year old daughter Sherrie, and 2 year old granddaughter Serena dead. And this was just the latest tragedy for Selina. In 1998, she lost her youngest daughter, who was at the time 14. She was an innocent bystander, shot in the back during a fight. Selina Burgess brought 3 daughters into the world, and watched all of them leave this earth before she did. So you can imagine in the hours after learning of the crash that killed 2 of her daughters and her granddaughter, her wounds were deep and raw. And yet she pulled it together to give a face to her daughters names. She told me how excited 2 year old Serena was to have just gotten a bunch of new clothes, and how Tawanda loved buying gifts for all the kids in the family, and how excited Sherrie was when she found out she was having her first child. This mother who was dealing with the thought of having to bury 3 people, of having the sole responsibility now of raising 5 grandchildren whose mothers are gone-- told me through her tears that she knows her faith will see her through. I wish that I never met people like Selina under these circumstances. But I'm so moved that when I do, they trust me with their loved ones' memories....and I hope they know that they teach me a lesson about faith, strength and resiliency time and time again.
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