March 2017. Eight months before Alexx was killed in a car wreck on his way home from school. I did not know at this time that this was the countdown until the day he died, November 29, 2017.
Alexx was not texting or distracted but he did not have on his seatbelt.
He was driving home like any other day. He was on a two lane road and passed the vehicle in front of him, which was driven by another male student from his school, who had two passengers in his vehicle. He passed legally, as the the lines were dotted. The driver of that vehicle decided to speed up and prevent Alexx from overtaking him, a fact that he denied to the police and to my face, yet witnesses from his vehicle and from oncoming traffic tell a different story. As the two vehicles approached a curve, they saw three oncoming vehicles. The boy hit his brakes for Alexx to get over but Alexx was going to fast to overtake the vehicle safely. His Trailblazer went off the roadway and then he overcorrected and hit the first car of the oncoming traffic, which caused his vehicle to spin and he then hit the second vehicle which was a Silverado truck. Alexx did not have on his seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.
The next 9 hours are the most horrific and traumatic moments of MY life and Alexx’s family’s life… From the initial phone call, to all the texts asking if Alexx was okay, to the drive to the wreck and then the hospital…SNAPCHAT post/pics of Alexx laying on the ground, and doctors telling me his injuries were non survivable and they were going to keep him alive for me and his family to say goodbye… to calling family and listening to Elijah say his good byes to Alexx over the phone, the heartbreaking moment when Barron realized that Alexx was not going to be okay…. and the moment telling the doctors to stop giving him blood transfusions that could be given to someone who needs them…the moment they stopped life support and I sat there watching his heart slow down until it stopped.
I can still remember it all.
That experience cannot truly be summed into words or a Facebook post but I can tell you it is worse than anything you could imagine.
I have thought about ” why him” so many times. “What did I do wrong?” We have all done some really stupid things in our lives, made reckless decisions behind the wheel and walked away not realizng how lucky we are. I may not have forgiven the driver of that other vehicle yet but I have forgiven myself and Alexx. Alexx was a inexperianced driver. He was young and he made a mistake by not wearing his seatbelt. He was too inexperianced to slow down and not try to pass. Adults can understand that it isnt worth it to mess around with a dangerous reckless driver but my Alexx wasnt experianced enough. I guess I didnt tell him enough to watch out for other drivers. I dont know if the outcome would be the same had he been wearing his seatblet or not. I will never know. But I hope that my story or Alexx’s story can touch just one person and they can have conversations with their teen drivers. Some people are lucky enough to get to live with the mistakes they made, some people are lucky enough to learn from the mistakes they made but sadly some dont get the chance to live or learn from the mistakes that can happen in just a blink of the eye.
Jes’s Blog 
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